IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 7 June
07-06-2007
by Deirdre McArdle
Perlico launches EUR5 million ad campaign | Coca-Cola creates mobile social networking site
The Irish Times reports that Fujitsu Services is to create 400 new jobs in Northern Ireland as part of a STG18 million investment. Read the full story as reported by ENN.
The paper also says that Vodafone has confirmed that 190 staff will be affected by its decision to outsource jobs to IBM. Read the full story on ENN.
Assurelink, a non-profit organisation that supplies software products to insurance brokers is to be wound up in November, leading to six redundancies, according to the Irish Times. With a high number of life companies now developing their own software products, Assurelink's shareholders decided further investment was not merited.
The Irish Independent reports that video footage showing what appears to be a uniformed garda making fun of a member of the public has been posted to YouTube. Both the gardai and the new Garda Ombudsman commission have launched separate investigations into the incident, which comes just a week after a separate video posting on YouTube showed mock footage of troops firing at civilians in Liberia.
The same paper writes that Belfast-based telecoms software company Aepona has merged with Swedish firm Appium in an all-stock deal. Read the full story as reported by ENN.
The paper also says that BT Ireland has launched www.dabs4work.ie, an IT retail website aimed at small and medium businesses (SMEs), as noted by ENN.
Meteor is one of the first companies to sign up to advertise on Ryanair plane's luggage bins, according to the Irish Independent. The mobile operator has signed a two-month deal to advertise on luggage doors across the 20 Ryanair planes in Dublin.
The same paper says that telecoms firm Perlico has launched a EUR5 million ad campaign to promote new price plans. The campaign, which is a mixture of TV and print, will run for three weeks, and the company is reportedly bullish about its prospects.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Sprint Nextel is to begin offering a mobile-search service from GPShopper, which uses GPS technology, allowing consumers to use their mobile phone to locate products in retail stores. The service, called Slifter, helps shoppers to learn where they can buy specific products based on a location signal, and at what price.
The same paper reports that Coca-Cola is to develop a virtual teenager hangout similar to MySpace but on mobile phones. The beverage company said will be creating a mobile-phone network under its Sprite brand in which members can set up profiles, post pictures and meet friends. The site was launched in China last week and will be rolled out in the US on 22 June.
The Financial Times writes that John Mayo, the former deputy chief executive of Marconi, is supporting a group of investors who are looking to restructure Vodafone and unlock up to STG38 billion of value in the mobile phone giant. Efficient Capital Structures, an activist investment group backed by Beehive Capital, Mayo's investment fund, has written to Vodafone asking for a series of resolutions to be put to next month's AGM.
The paper also reports that Michael Dell is in Europe this week to outline his plans to turn Dell into the "greenest technology company on earth". Dell is proposing to require its suppliers to disclose their green-house gas emissions, extend its tree-planting programme and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 15 percent by 2012. Dell is late amongst technology companies jumping aboard the environmental bandwagon, with IBM, HP, Apple and other telecoms firms having already outlined their plans.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 