IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 11 May
11-05-2007
by Deirdre McArdle
Cryptologic to move headquarters to Dublin | Steve Jobs defends Apple's handling of options backdating scandal
The Irish Times reports that gambling software firm Cryptologic is to relocate its headquarters to the Dublin in a move driven partly by the US ban on internet betting. The Canadian-based firm, which has annual sales of EUR77 million, wants to move its headquarters to a location closer to its biggest customers, who are based in Europe. Cryptologic chief executive Javaid Aziz and chief financial officer Stephen Taylor will be based in the Dublin office, which will initially employ 10 people.
The same paper says First Derivatives, a Newry-based company which provides services and software to the financial services sector, has posted a 72 percent jump and announced plans to list on the IEX. Read the full story as reported by ENN.
The paper also reports that Sligo-based Infacta says that it is serving up to 14 million online surveys a month through its free PollDaddy service. The service allows non-techie users to create surveys on topics of their choice, which can then be published on users' social networking web pages.
The Irish Times also reports that the chairman of systems integration company Horizon Technology has said that he expects the firm's 2007 results to be in line with market expectations. Read the full story as reported by ENN.
The paper also says a report from Screen Digest suggests that mobile TV will grow in popularity in the next 3 years, hitting revenues of EUR4.7 billion by 2010 and outshining other mobile services such as gaming and music. Read the full story as reported by ENN on Wednesday.
Finally, the Irish Times says that a report from DowJones Venture One and Ernst & Young shows venture capital activity in Ireland dropped dramatically during the first quarter of the year. Read the full story as reported by ENN.
The Irish Independent reports that the 20,000 Sony PlayStation 3's that shipped to Ireland for the long-anticipated launch of the console seven weeks ago, have not yet sold out. For its part Sony Ireland is saying it's happy with sales of the console, saying it's 15 percent above target.
The Wall Street Journal reports the Nasdaq dropped 1.7 percent on Thursday as weak "same-store sales" and a wider-than-expected trade deficit report put pressure on the technology sector. A number of blue-chip tech stocks on the Nasdaq were also lower on Thursday with Google down USD7.78 to USD461.47 and Yahoo down USD0.52 cents to USD29.70. Shares in Dell, eBay and Intel also fell, while Apple hit an all-time high of USD107.34 on Thursday the day of its annual shareholders meeting.
In more news of Apple, the same paper reports that CEO Steve Jobs defended the company's handling of its stock options-backdating scandal at the firm's shareholders meeting, and suggested a former employee's accusations about his role in the matter were wrong. In December Apple acknowledged it had backdated options between 1997 and 2002, and said that while Jobs knew of the backdating, he was unaware of the accounting implications.
The Financial Times reports that Joost, the online video site created by the founders of Skype, has raised EUR45 million in funding from four venture capital and media groups just a week after launching the service. Sequioa Capital, which backed Yahoo, Google and YouTube; Index Ventures, an early investor in Skype; Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong tycoon; and CBS, the US media group, have all reportedly taken "small minority" stakes in the company.
According to the same paper Vonage claims to be making progress in developing a technical 'work-around' that would enable it to steer clear of patents owned by rival Verizon Communications. Vonage is currently appealing against a ruling that said it infringed three patents held by Verizon. If the ruling stands Vonage would be forced to pay Verizon more than USD58 million in damages and 5.5 percent of future subscriptions from lines that use the disputed technology.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 