NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 7 May
07-05-2009
by Bryan Collins
Irish tech firms buck the trend | Twitter not for sale
Despite the global credit crunch, 32 Irish technology companies raised EUR54 million in the first quarter of 2009, according to the Irish Venture Capital Association (ICVA) VenturePulse survey. This is up 23.5 percent on the same period last year. In comparison, US technology firms reported a decline of 44 percent while data sources in the UK reported declines of up to 70 percent. "This compares very favourably to fundraising in the US and UK which is down in the first quarter," said Regina Breheny, director general of the Irish Venture Capital Association.
One of Twitter's co-founders has poured cold water over rumours that Apple is about to buy the company. Biz Stone told ABC show "The View" that the micro-blogging company is not for sale saying: "We're just getting started as I've said. The company is two years old, we have so much to do, so much product stuff to fix, and so much growing to do." Prior to Tuesday's rumours surrounding Apple and Twitter, Google and Facebook were tipped as supposed suitors.
Almost 30 percent of Irish workers expect a response to an e-mail within 30 minutes, according to research by Vodafone Ireland. The operator examined Irish employee attitudes to e-mail and found 62 percent of employees respond to a business e-mail within 30 minutes while some 40 percent said they would respond within 10 minutes. "One of the more interesting findings relating to the adoption of mobile e-mail is that the strongest need for mobile e-mail devices can be seen within the IT sector. Forty-eight percent of sector workers stated a need for mobile e-mail access but only 28 percent currently have the facility," said Anne O'Leary, business and enterprise director of Vodafone Ireland.
Irish company Hostelworld.com has won the Webby's People's Choice award for Best Travel and Adventure Video. The website won the award after over 500,000 web-users cast their votes in what organisers bill as the Oscars of the internet. Hostelworld.com picked up the Webby for a video in its "10 things you need to know about…." series. The videos, which are presented by Colm Hanratty, provide travellers with travel tips about various destinations around the world.
The European Commission wants to cut fees for routing mobile phone calls by up to 70 percent and reduce customer bills cut by EUR2 billion over the next three years. The goals are set out in new national regulator guidelines by EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding. While they do not specify prices, the guidelines state that the method to calculate termination fees must be based on "real costs". The guidelines are non-binding but EU states are obliged to take the "utmost account" of them. They will be phased in by 2012.
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) model is set to grow by 22 percent this year, according to research by Gartner. The analyst firm said that SaaS revenues will total USD9.6 billion in 2009, a 21.9 percent increase on USD6.6 billion in 2008. Gartner believes SaaS will be worth USD16 billion by 2013, with office suites and digital content creation being the fastest growing markets. "Greater market competition and increased focus by the mega vendors is reinforcing the legitimacy of on-demand solutions," said Sharon Mertz, research director at Gartner.
Irish media solutions company Tyrell CCT has opened a new London office. Tyrell CCT UK will be headed up by two former Altered Images Directors, Mark Lynn and Nick Soper, who will run the company's sales and technical divisions from Soho’s Poland Street.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 