IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 15 May
15-05-2007
by
Irish iPhone launch may be delayed | SAP anticipates major growth curve
The Irish Times reports on Microsoft's salvo against free and open source software. In an interview with Fortune magazine, Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, and Horacio Gutierrez, the company's licensing boss, said that Linux and other open source software infringes around 235 Microsoft patents. Read the full story as reported by ENN.
The paper also reports that the iPhone media player from Apple may not be available initially in Ireland when it launches in Europe later this year, if Apple signs its European distribution deal with T-Mobile. T-Mobile, which is now believed to be the favourite instead of Vodafone, has no relationship with the Irish mobile networks, the paper says.
The Irish Independent reports that two former Siemens officials have been convicted of bribery and assisting bribery. The German company said it would appeal the decision.
The Wall Street Journal reports that SAP, the world's largest business software maker, believes it's at the beginning of a major new wave of growth, similar to that it experienced in the early 1990s with the boom in enterprise resource planning software. The remarks came from SAP's Chief Executive Henning Kagermann, speaking on Sunday at Sapphire, the annual European customer event. Kagermann said the new growth will be powered by software that lets companies connect their back offices with those of their partners.
The same paper reports that Informa, the UK-based publishing and conferencing giant, is to buy Datamonitor for STG502 million. No job cuts are anticipated at Datamonitor, which offers services including consulting, research publications, searchable databases on industry sectors and company financial reports.
The Financial Times reports on speculation that Vodafone may be considering the purchase of Ya.com, Deutsche Telekom's Spanish internet subsidiary. Few details are available, but a purchase price of around EUR400 million has been mooted.
The paper also reports on the further efforts by IT giants like Hewlett Packard, Dell, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and SAP to target smaller businesses with 100 employees or less. The move comes as smaller companies become more willing and able to use technology to gain competitive advantage and cut costs. The paper said small businesses are particularly focusing on technologies like wireless networking, servers and business applications like e-mail and customer relationship management software.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 