IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 26 June
26-06-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
CWU backs STT's Eircom bid | Microsoft plans lure for Windows 7
The Irish Times reports that the Communication Workers Union has given its support to a bid for Eircom by Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT). The move comes a week after the Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) backed STT's bid to acquire Eircom. The union, which represents more than 5,000 workers at Eircom, said STT's offer was "the only credible option" for the future of the heavily indebted telco.
The paper also says that IBM is to create 100 new jobs in an expansion of its Irish software labs, as reported by ENN on Thursday.
The same paper reports that smartphones could start eating into the global laptop market within the year, according to infrastructure software firm Citrix. Chief Executive Mark Templeton says that smartphones and PDAs could assume a dominant role by 2010. "Many people in Western cultures will travel with smartphones in lieu of a traditional notebook," he said. "In many developing nations, a smartphone may actually be the only computer some people ever have in their entire lives."
The paper also notes that Cable & Wireless is investing STG4.24 million in a next-generation network spanning 21 locations, as reported by ENN.
The paper also says that Dublin firm Asavie has won a contract with Bulgaria's largest mobile operator, M-Tel, that will see its Passbridge service used to provide remote and secure access facilities to customers. It is understood the deal is worth at least a six-figure sum to Asavie.
The same paper notes that Microsoft will not provide an upgrade version of Windows 7 in Europe when it goes on sale in October, due to European Commission restrictions on the inclusion of Internet Explorer 8. The software giant will instead charge European customers the upgrade price for a full version. In Ireland, the Home Premium version will cost EUR49 and the Professional version will initially be EUR99.
The Irish Independent says that the Dutch entertainment industry association, Bescherming Rechten Entertainment Industrie Nederland, is using Facebook and Twitter to serve legal papers on the three principals associated with the Pirate Bay file-sharing website, the Swedish Wire website has reported. The summonses relate to copyright-infringement allegations that the entertainment industry claims Pirate Bay facilitates. The industry trade group went to the social-networking sites after failing to locate Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Svatrholm Warg any other way.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Palm has posted a wider fiscal fourth-quarter loss as revenue declined before the release of the Pre smartphone, but results beat analysts' expectations. For the quarter ended 30 May, Palm recorded a loss of USD91.5 million, or USD0.78 a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of USD41.1 million, or USD0.40 a share. Excluding charges including those from stock compensation and acquisitions, the loss came to USD0.40 cents a share, compared to a loss of USD0.22 a year earlier. Revenue dropped 71 percent to USD86.8 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected an adjusted loss of USD0.62 a share on revenue of USD80.6 million. The company is banking on the Palm Pre, which went on sale on 6 June, to revive its smartphone fortunes.
The Financial Times says that Orange, the UK's third-largest mobile operator, is cutting 370 jobs. The company, owned by France Telecom, expects 100 redundancies over the next three months. The remaining 270 jobs will be cut by not filling vacancies. Orange employs 12,000 people in the UK.
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