NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 10 June
10-06-2009
by Emmet Cole
Telecoms market is competitive: survey | SIM-ple minded gamers boost EA sales
Over the last 12 months, total telecoms costs have decreased for 57 percent of Irish corporates and 25 percent of Irish SMEs, according to ComReg's first business survey of 2009. Just under half (49 percent) of corporates are more likely to cut spending due to the downturn compared to last year. Seventy percent of companies surveyed believe the telecoms market is more competitive than it was 12 months ago, while 62 percent believe that savings could be made by switching telecoms supplier. The survey also found that speed and reliability of broadband connection are of most importance to corporate businesses, while reliability and cost are key for SMEs. Meanwhile, 81 percent of all businesses surveyed provide their employees with company mobile phones. The survey is based on research conducted by Millward Brown IMS during March and April of 502 SMEs and 53 corporate businesses.
Dell Ireland and partners WEEE Ireland and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council are encouraging members of the public to participate in 'Recycling Day' -- a free waste electrical and electronic recycling event taking place on Saturday, 27 June at Dell's campus in Cherrywood Business Park, Dublin 18. Dell's Recycling Day will be held from 10am to 4pm and is designed to raise awareness among consumers of the importance of electronic and electrical recycling. The one-day recycling event will be used to collect old equipment including IT equipment, washing machines, TVs, fridge freezers, stereos, batteries, fluorescent tubes, and all other household items with a plug or a battery.
O2 has launched the 'Emporia Life' mobile phone specifically designed for senior citizens. The "simple and easy-to-use" device has "basic functions that enable customers to make calls and send text messages in an uncomplicated way". O2 claims that the advanced functionality of today's handsets put off many senior citizens; the Emporia Life menu however, is easy to understand and contains a minimum amount of additional settings. The keyboard comes with large keys and an orange display on the phone's screen that provides better readability -- and gives the whole thing more of a disco feel. Meanwhile, a special red button on the back of the phone will facilitate quick-dialling to the National Emergency Services. Available both on prepay and contract from O2 Retail stores nationwide or online at www.o2.ie, the Emporia Life is priced from EUR49 on contract and EUR149 on prepay.
Student Allan Dixon from Dublin City University (DCU) has been awarded the prestigious top prize at the 2009 Enterprise Ireland Student Enterprise Awards. Dixon beat off stiff competition from hundreds of third level students across Ireland with his business proposal 'Eventwolf' -- a new social networking platform that integrates events with Google's rich interactive maps. Dixon pockets EUR10,000 and the title of 'College Entrepreneur of The Year' in the Enterprise Ireland, Invest Northern Ireland and Cruickshank Intellectual Property Attorneys sponsored event.
The third annual Cyber-Ark "Trust, Security & Passwords" survey has found that 35 percent of IT workers now admit to accessing corporate information without authorisation and that 74 percent of respondents stated they could circumvent controls currently in place to prevent access to internal information. The survey also found a sharp increase in the number of respondents who say they would take proprietary data and information critical to maintaining competitive advantage and corporate security with them if they left a company. When asked this year "what would you take with you", the survey found a six-fold increase in staff who said they would take financial reports or merger and acquisition plans, and a four-fold increase in those who would take CEO passwords and research and development plans. Meanwhile, one in five companies admit having experienced cases of insider sabotage or IT security fraud. Of those, 36 percent suspect that their competitors have received their company's highly sensitive information or intellectual property. The survey was conducted with more than 400 IT administrators at Infosecurity Europe 2009 and RSA USA 2009, mainly from enterprise class companies.
Between 2009 and 2014, annual sales of low-cost mobile handsets will rise by 22 percent to over 700 million, according to a new report from market analysts Juniper Research. According to report author, Andrew Kitson, 80 percent of new mobile users will come from emerging markets over the next six years. The report also found that the Africa & Middle East region will account for the largest annual shipment volume by 2014, with an estimated 166 million low-cost handsets representing 24 percent of all sales that year. Juniper is predicting that smartphones will account for 27 percent of mobile device shipments in 2014.
Meanwhile, Gala Networks Europe, which has its European HQ in Dublin and operates the gPotato.eu portal, has announced the public release of online game Dragonica on Wednesday. Developed by Barunson Interactive, Dragonica is an arcade style 3D side-scrolling MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) for the PC, and is available to download play for free with a gPotato.eu account.
Finally, in more games news, 1.4 million copies of SIMS 3 have been sold since its release on 2 June, according to the game's developer Electronic Arts (EA) -- making it the best-selling PC game launch in EA's history. The company also said over 7 million user-created items had been sold within the game, including home furnishings and clothing. The latest version features a new moviemaking tool and additional ways to customise the personalities of the game's virtual townsfolk.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 