Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 453
19-02-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Intel, Smart to seek redundancies | New jobs offer glimmer of hope | Mobile firms flock to Barcelona | A twist in the music downloading tale | Digital media sector lauds winners
Intel, Smart to seek redundancies
Once again this week, there was good news and bad news on the jobs front. On Tuesday, broadband provider Smart Telecom confirmed that it was in talks with a view to cutting jobs. The firm, which employs 90 full-time staff, is currently in the middle of a month-long cost-cutting consultation due to end on 24 February; however, John Quinn, regulatory and development director with Smart, said at the end of the talks it was likely that "30 to 40 positions will be made redundant". Then came Wednesday with more bad news: Intel announced that it was seeking up to 300 redundancies at its Leixlip, Co Kildare plant. In January, it looked like Ireland had escaped Intel's global cull of between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs, although there were hints that the firm planned to cut an additional 1,000 jobs and that Ireland wasn't going to be immune. Intel employs over 5,000 people in Ireland and has issued reassurances that we are not facing another Dell-type situation. "The clear message is that Intel is committed to Ireland and is not closing the site. While people are losing their jobs, the site is in safe hands," an Intel spokesperson told the Irish Times.
New jobs offer glimmer of hope
On the flip side of these job cuts, social networking giant Facebook announced the opening of its new offices in Dublin on Tuesday. Dublin will now become Facebook's European hub and the networking site is looking to recruit 40 people in areas such as user operations, online operations, inside sales and advertising campaign delivery. While the number of new jobs isn't Earth-shattering, the fact that Facebook has chosen to locate its European HQ in Ireland has to be seen as a major plus for the Government's efforts to bring new foreign investment to our shores. At a time when other companies are cutting costs and staff, some promising news was announced on Wednesday when fledgling mobile services firm Telecorp said it was going to create 20 new jobs in Dublin. The company was founded in April 2008 and is a joint venture between the owner of Infinite Technologies, Michael Corr, and directors Conor and John English. It is looking for mobile sales and service staff for its office in Sandyford, which was opened in November 2008. Telecorp currently employs five staff and provides a range of services from mobile handsets to fixed line solutions to IT services. These two announcements offer the faintest glimmer of hope that foreign investment will begin to grow again and indigenous firms will innovate and expand... eventually.
Mobile firms flock to Barcelona
The Mobile World Congress, the largest mobile-themed event in the world, kicked off on Monday. Mobile companies of all different shapes and sizes descend on Barcelona every year for the event, from which handset releases and strategy announcements inevitably emanate. So far, there have been a series of handset releases from big players like Samsung, which unveiled a model called Blue Earth, made from recycled plastic with a solar panel on the back for charging; Sony Ericsson, which launched a new Walkman phone, the W995, along with a 'concept phone' called Idou -- to be available in 2010 -- which boasts a 12 megapixel camera; and Nokia, which announced two new business handsets -- the E55 and the E75. Nokia claims the E55 is the world's thinnest smartphone. Elsewhere, Caribbean mobile operator Digicel unveiled a low-cost solar-powered mobile handset -- the Coral-200-Solar -- which it will launch in selected markets in June. Meanwhile, inspired by the success of Apple's AppStore, Nokia, China Mobile and Microsoft all announced online software stores at the Congress. Nokia said it would open an online store for software and media under its Ovi brand in nine countries in May, while Microsoft announced a revamped online store. China Mobile said it plans to launch a mobile market applications store within the year. In an announcement that amounts to something of a truce after years of fighting each other in the courts, Nokia and Qualcomm have outlined their plans to work together (yes, together) on a range of high-end phones. Nokia will use Qualcomm chips for the devices, which they expect to release in the middle of next year. The Congress also plays host to the prestigious Global Mobile Awards. Irish mobile services firm NewBay was awarded the 'Best Technology' prize at the event, which took place on Tuesday night. The Irish firm's LifeCache Social Networking solution was lauded as "an impressive product" by the judges.
A twist in the music downloading tale
The agreement between Eircom and the four major music labels -- EMI, Warner, Sony and Universal -- took a new turn this week with the news that internet service providers around the country have been put on notice of legal action if they too do not agree to the so-called "three strikes and you're out" system, which effectively cuts off the broadband connection of persistent illegal music downloaders. While it had by and large been expected that the music labels would insist on other operators following Eircom's lead on the issue, it nonetheless comes as a bit of a jolt to operators. In the legal letter, the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA), which represents the four labels, told the ISPs they have seven days to respond or else face legal action. ALTO, the group representing alternative operators, is currently working on a response to the letter and legal threat, according to Ronan Lupton, chairman of ALTO, who told ENN that while the operators do not condone illegal downloading they believe there are "question marks" surrounding the "three strikes" system. The operators will be putting forward a combined response to the music labels. Their position is that they are considered a "mere conduit", in that they cannot be held liable for traffic that customers send or receive over their networks.
Digital media sector lauds winners
It's award season in Tinseltown, and here in Ireland we've got awards too. The Digital Media Awards, which celebrate the good and the great in Ireland's digital media sector, took place on Friday night. Winners were unveiled in 20 categories, including Best Commercial Website, Best Entertainment Content and Best Newcomer with International Potential. Amongst the winners on the night were netExpo Online, which won the Digital Media Award for Business to Business Innovation and moneyville.ie, which won Best e-Learning Product or Service. For the second year in a row, UPC Ireland scooped the award for Best Internet Service Provider. Meanwhile, in the Best Entertainment Content category, movie website Movies.ie took home the top prize. Vincent Donnelly, the site's founder, was delighted with the win in a category that included entertainment.ie, which counts the Irish Times as a major stakeholder. "The competition was so strong and Movies.ie is quite a small operation, so to go up against big companies with lots of staff and win is mind-boggling," he told ENN. The site is currently funded by advertisers and Donnelly is hoping the high-profile win will reinforce its attractiveness to prospective media buyers, as Donnelly has lots of plans for the site. "As we get bigger we'll have more opportunities to implement some pretty impressive features across the site. We're in the middle of plotting a mini-revamp and changing our navigation structure at the moment." Movies.ie recently ran a user survey to find out exactly what visitors would like from the site. Donnelly said that they are taking on board these suggestions but also told ENN that many users asked them not to change anything at all. "This cautioned us that any major changes may have to be gradually introduced." In these gloomy times it's refreshing to see a young company such as Movies.ie be rewarded for its efforts. Donnelly thinks so too: "The award means a lot to us, running the site is very hard work. We work on Movies.ie 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep it fresh and up to date. Acknowledgement like this makes all the hard work worthwhile."
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 