IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 20 November
20-11-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
Vodafone blocks Deutsche Telekom from selling iPhone | 'Howard' helps surfers shop online with confidence
The Irish Times reports that French software firm Business Objects posted revenues of EUR407.5 million through its Dublin operations last year and generated a pre-tax profit of EUR47 million. Accounts for the year to 31 December 2006 filed with the Companies Office underline the importance of the Irish subsidiary, Business Objects Software Limited, to the parent. The accounts show that an average of 108 people worked for Business Objects in Ireland in 2006.
The paper also says that research and development "competence centres" based in third-level institutes but driven by an industry agenda could significantly enhance industry and academic collaboration, according to a new research paper. 'Industry-Academia Collaboration: A Competence Centre Approach for Ireland?', by Nicki O'Connor, Enterprise Ireland's manager for its campus incubation programme, suggests that for such initiatives to be successful, supports for companies must be appropriate to their stage of development, future R&D investment priorities for the country should be identified, and a comprehensive assessment of existing research competence should be conducted.
The same paper reports on the launch of a new web tool to help protect online shoppers from fraudulent web traders and inform them which websites they should trust. The "Howard" tool, developed by the European Commission, allows online shoppers to check a web trader's reputation before committing to purchasing goods from the website. The tool gathers information on individual websites, such as where and when the site was registered. The service also checks whether a website has "trusted" accreditation and finds details of official company registration. The tool is available at www.eccdublin.ie.
The Irish Independent says that Gardai have uncovered a prostitution racket operated on the internet by criminal gangs who are flying in 'escorts' from Eastern Europe and South America to work in a Limerick city brothel.
The Irish Examiner reports on Smart Telecom's new residential broadband offerings, as reported by ENN on Monday.
The Financial Times says that Deutsche Telekom has held talks with Electronic Data Systems, the US computer services company, to explore the possibility of a takeover by the German telecoms group. According to sources, Deutsche Telekom is considering a subsequent merger of EDS with its T-Systems computer services division and then a flotation of this bigger entity.
In other news of Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone's German subsidiary has won a court injunction barring its German rival from selling Apple's iPhone on the grounds that its locked-in link to DT's network may be against the law, according to the same paper. A German spokesman for Vodafone, which does not sell the iPhone in any market, said the company was pursuing legal action only in Germany as it felt specific national rules on access to networks were being broken.
The Wall Street Journal reports that senior managers at an SAP unit that has embroiled the German software maker in a legal dispute with rival Oracle have resigned. SAP said it might seek to sell the Texas unit, called TomorrowNow. Oracle sued SAP in March, alleging that employees at TomorrowNow had stolen proprietary information from the company.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 