IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 28 September
28-09-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Nevin to stand trial on mobile charge | Orange links up with Apple in UK
The Irish Times reports that McAfee Ireland Ltd, the Irish subsidiary of the US security firm that announced the creation of 120 jobs in Cork last week, had a turnover of EUR323 million and pretax profits of EUR14.1 million last year. This compares with a turnover of EUR297 million and pretax profits of EUR21.6 million in 2007. According to accounts just filed with the Companies Registration Office, McAfee Ireland had retained losses of EUR71.8 million and a deficit in shareholders funds of EUR67.5 million last year.
The Irish Independent says that Catherine Nevin, the woman who was convicted of murdering her husband in 2000, will stand trial on Wednesday for the alleged possession of a mobile phone in prison. The trial is set to proceed despite efforts by Nevin for the case to be postponed until after the appeal against her murder conviction is heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal. If convicted on the mobile phone charge, Nevin faces a fine of up to EUR10,000, or she could have her life sentence extended by up to five years.
The Irish Examiner reports that a website that advertises prostitution services has launched a section on its website allowing sex workers to identify dangerous punters they have encountered. Escort-ireland.com said the scheme will improve the safety of sex workers and reduce crimes committed against them. However, a spokeswoman for Ruhama, an organisation working with women in prostitution, said: "It is farce for any organisation which profits from prostitution to attempt to market itself as having the best interests of the women at heart and to be able to protect them from any harm." Although advertising prostitution is an offence in Ireland, the website has escaped the rigours of the law because it is hosted outside the state.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Orange has reached an agreement to sell Apple's iPhone in the UK later this year, bringing an end to an exclusive two-year contract held by rival O2. While an exact date for the launch was not released, an Orange spokesman said the iPhone would be available on its network by Christmas. It will sell both the original iPhone 3G model and the iPhone 3GS version. No details of pricing or tariffs were released.
The Sunday Business Post writes that losses at telecoms software firm Accuris widened last year. Gross profit fell to EUR2.6 million for the year ending 31 December 2008, compared with EUR2.9 million a year earlier. It retained a EUR1.4 million loss for the year, rising from EUR942,000 in 2007. Accumulated losses at the firm are now EUR4.5 million. Directors said the company "continued to invest in market development and strategic innovation technology" and has won a new investor. The company said it was expecting a challenging year ahead.
The same paper says that mobile software firm Zamano has linked up with Dublin design company Pixelsoup as it tries to crack the smartphone market. The move comes after Zamano announced revenues for the first six months of the year, down from EUR23.7 million to EUR13.3 million year-on-year. The strategy intends to rebuild the lost revenue with a new venture called Publish-i, which will target media-rich publications initially. The company said sports clubs could use the technology to sell match-day programmes, and content could be made interactive -- allowing fans to record the score or substitutions into the programme during the game. Software is currently being tested with potential customers.
The Sunday Tribune highlights the scrapping of a EUR70 million Government IT project. The project was designed to provide the public with single-website access to all public services and was launched in 2000. However, it never worked, and the department of Finance decided to shut it down when it took over last year. The Public Services Broker project was taken over from the Department of Social and Family Affairs, and the Department of Finance immediately had to write off EUR27.3 million worth of computer hardware. However, EUR5 million of software was salvaged. Contracts for services to support the Broker were also terminated and, with other costs, meant the department was hit for just under EUR1.5 million.
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