In the papers 19 January

19-01-2007

by Sylvia Leatham

Eircom to deliberate over 3G offer | TK Maxx suffers security breach

The Irish Times reports that Eircom is deliberating about whether to accept ComReg's offer of a 3G mobile licence. The licence was originally offered to Smart Telecom, the troubled telco that recently lost a High Court challenge to ComReg's withdrawal of the licence in a dispute over draft performance bonds. Eircom's directors will consider the offer at a board meeting next week. "We have received a letter. We are considering our options," said an Eircom spokesman.

The paper also says that sales of more than 21 million iPods in the final three months of 2006 contributed to record quarterly profits at Apple of USD1 billion. Read the full story on ENN.

The paper also reports that a computer security breach at the US parent of the TK Maxx discount clothing stores may have compromised the credit and debit card information of Irish shoppers. In a statement, the TJX Companies said it had "suffered an unauthorised intrusion into our computer systems that process and store information related to customer transactions". The company confirmed that the financial details of some US and Canadian customers have been stolen, and it said it was "concerned" that the servers that process and store customer transactions for the TK Maxx shops in Ireland and Britain may also have been compromised.

The same paper notes that ClearTone, a high-tech start-up that plans to use digital technology to revolutionise the hearing test industry, has won The Irish Times/Synergy Centre competition and the prize of a year's free tenancy at the Synergy Centre. ClearTone has developed a software-based hearing test machine that it plans to launch at a major trade show in the US in April.

The paper also notes that Dublin-based telecoms software company Soft-ex has signed a deal worth more than EUR5 million with BT Global Services. The contract will see the Irish company becoming BT's preferred voice-management supplier for hosted services.

The paper also says that the British unit of US insurance giant St Paul Travelers has signed a EUR250,000 deal with Irish software services group Mapflow. The contract will facilitate the insurer in assessing the likely exposure of property to a range of risks.

According to the same paper, there are now over 1 million registered Irish users of social networking website Bebo, the company said in a statement.

The Irish Independent notes that a 37-year-old British man has been jailed for six months for claiming thousands of pounds in benefits while earning STG100,000 through auction site eBay. Barry McNaughton of Hampshire pleaded guilty at Portsmouth Crown Court to two charges of failing to notify the Department for Work and Pensions that he was running a business. He was also ordered to pay back STG16,750 for the income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit he had falsely claimed.

The Irish Examiner notes that Cork-based SensL Technologies, a developer of innovative light detection devices, is to double its workforce of 12 people.

The Financial Times says that California prosecutors have offered plea deals to Patricia Dunn, Hewlett-Packard's former chairman, and four others charged with felony counts of conspiracy and identity theft in connection with the company's boardroom spying scandal. The deals would allow Dunn and the other co-defendants to avoid going to trial on felony charges by pleading guilty to a less serious misdemeanour charge, according to sources.

The Wall Street Journal says that Yahoo is to launch a website on Friday dedicated to personal finance, in a move to expand the audience for its Yahoo Finance product and to boost advertising revenue from financial-services companies. The site, dubbed Yahoo Personal Finance, will tackle subjects such as banking and budgeting, taxes, real estate, career and work, and retirement.

The paper also reports that LG Electronics has unveiled the Prada Phone, a handset developed with Italian fashion house Prada Group that has a buttonless touch screen much like that of Apple's new iPhone. The thin, metallic black phone commands a premium price of EUR600, or about USD775, higher than the iPhone's starting price of USD499.