IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 4 September
04-09-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Deutsche Telekom in T-Mobile talks | Google's China president resigns
The Irish Times reports that Oracle's acquisition of Sun is being scrutinised by European antitrust officials, as noted by ENN on Thursday.
The paper also reports on the launch of the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Friday. This year the show is likely to be dominated by 3D technology, navigation devices and wireless technology in unlikely places. Upmarket kitchen manufacturer Siematic will unveil a large, sleek touchscreen for kitchen walls that allows the user to surf the internet while controlling everything from the stove to the dishwasher.
The paper also says that Chorus and NTL digital TV subscribers may soon be able to watch previously-broadcast RTE programmes. Shane O'Neill, chief strategy officer with Liberty Global, the ultimate parent group of Chorus NTL, said that the cable TV group is in talks with RTE about making its iPlayer available through its digital set-top boxes. The player allows you to catch up on RTE programming up to 21 days after it has been broadcast. It is currently only available online.
The same paper notes that UK scientists have achieved a world-first, building a primitive computer on a microchip that does its calculations using light rather than electricity. The tiny chip, just a few millimetres across, does very little -- so far -- but may be the precursor of a computer able to crack the most complex of bank security codes. "The big news is that we have been able to implement this demonstration on a chip," said Prof Jeremy O'Brien, director of the Centre for Quantum Photonics at the University of Bristol.
The Irish Examiner reports that the Irish division of Bearing Point is to form part of a near European-wide management buyout (MBO) of the company's EMEA operations, as reported by ENN.
According to the Financial Times, Deutsche Telekom has started talks with Vodafone, France Telecom and Telefonica about selling T-Mobile UK. Sources say all three companies have shown interest in the mobile unit, although talks are understood to be at a preliminary stage. "If we're lucky, we could end up with a three-horse race," said one person briefed about Deutsche Telekom's plans, adding that a rise in the global economy and asset prices had increased hopes of earning EUR4 billion for the sale of T-Mobile UK.
The paper also reports that Japan's Toshiba plans to bid for French nuclear group Areva's power distribution and transmission equipment unit, according to sources. The deal could be worth more than USD5 billion. Toshiba is focusing on its power generation equipment business, including nuclear power, as it reins in investment in its chip operations.
The Wall Street Journal says that Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google's China operations, is resigning from the company. Lee will be succeeded by two Google executives, Boon-Lock Yeo, currently director of Google's Shanghai engineering office, and John Liu, currently head of Google's sales team in greater China. Google said Lee is leaving to work on his own venture.
The paper also notes that Samsung Electronics has said it is no longer pursuing a plan to purchase SanDisk. The announcement comes after the two companies signed a patent-licensing deal in May that heads off the threat of litigation between them in the flash-memory chip market. Samsung made an unsolicited bid to acquire the US flash-memory card maker for USD5.85 billion in 2008. At the time, SanDisk rejected the offer, saying the price was too low. Samsung subsequently withdrew its bid and no progress has been made since then.
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