In The Papers 19 September

19-09-2008

by Sylvia Leatham

Five laptops stolen from HSE | Dell staff wait to see if Cannon will fire

The Irish Independent reports that staff at Limerick's Dell plant are to receive a visit from global head of operations Michael Cannon in the very near future, as fears grow for the future of the manufacturing plant. It is understood that Cannon's visit to Limerick has been scheduled for a number of weeks and is still in the planning stages. A Dell spokeswoman would not comment on the visit. Cannon has a fearsome reputation for slashing costs and for his enthusiastic embrace of outsourcing. Read more about the threat hanging over Dell jobs on ENN.

The Irish Times reports on two announcements about the creation of new jobs on Thursday. More than 200 jobs are to be created in Northern Ireland by US medical device manufacturer CaridianBCT, while US-based health benefits firm Aetna will establish 70 new positions in Kerry. Read more on both of these stories on ENN.

The paper also reports that the proposed Google-Yahoo advertising pact is to come under regulatory scrutiny from the European Union, as reported by ENN on Thursday.

The same paper notes that hackers have accessed a Yahoo e-mail account belonging to US Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Read more on this story on ENN.

The paper also reports that Canon Ireland has said it is expecting steady sales in digital cameras despite the downturn, and it described Ireland as a younger market with higher percentage growth rates than Britain. "Overall for 2008, we're going to be up. There is still huge demand for digital SLRs; there is double-digit growth in that product right up to August and I can't see that tailing off for the moment," said Philip Brady, country manager with Canon Ireland.

According to the Irish Examiner, five laptops have been stolen from the Health Service Executive since the beginning of the year. Confidential details of patients, their diagnoses and treatment, and other personal details, were contained on some of the stolen laptops. None of the laptops were encrypted. Health chiefs are to begin notifying patients and clients who may potentially be affected by the theft of two of the laptops. These two laptops were stolen together in July this year in a HSE office in Mullingar.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Palm's quarterly net loss has widened as the handset maker works to revitalise its line of smartphones amid stiff competition from rival devices. For its first fiscal quarter ended 31 August, Palm posted a net loss of USD39.5 million, or USD0.39 a share, compared with a net loss of USD841,000, or USD0.01 a share, in the same quarter in 2007. Revenue rose 1.7 percent to USD366.9 million as smartphone sales increased 49 percent to over 1 million units.

The paper also reports that Toshiba plans to cut its earnings estimates for the current fiscal year. The company is being dragged down by its deteriorating chip business, which posted an operating loss of JPY30.2 billion (USD288.3 million) for the first quarter ended June. Toshiba hopes to gain momentum from its LCD television set business, however. It aims to grab more than 10 percent of the global LCD TV market in the year ending March 2011, up from the 8 percent estimated for the current fiscal year.

According to the Financial Times, the rebound in the dollar is likely to take a big slice out of Oracle's growth rate in the coming months, the US software firm has forecast. The warning, which also points to a wider currency impact that will dent the broader US tech sector, came as Oracle reported that its earnings had beaten expectations in its most recent quarter, due to its success in keeping operating costs down. The sharp swing in currencies will push revenue growth down to 9 to 12 percent in the quarter, Oracle said, although executives noted that the depressing effect on the figures would not affect its market position.

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