NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 23 October
23-10-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Taxback founder nets award | BSkyB sees profits jump 40pc
The founder of Irish firm Taxback.com, Terry Clune, has been named the 2009 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. The company, which provides income tax services for individuals and businesses operating abroad, employs over 600 people in 20 countries, with 110 based in Ireland. Clune won the award for taking Taxback.com from a student scheme to a business with a projected turnover of EUR90 million this year.
On Thursday Microsoft opened its first retail store. The store is located in Scotsdale, Arizona, and overnight some 500 people queued for the store to open(!). The shop is the first of a planned chain of Microsoft stores around the US as the software giant tries to mimic Apple's success in the retail arena. Microsoft will be selling hardware including the Xbox 360 and PCs from Dell and Hewlett-Packard, as well as software like Windows 7.
In more news of Microsoft, the software behemoth has posted net profit of USD3.57 billion, or USD0.52 per share, for the third quarter, down 18 percent on the year-ago figures, but ahead of analysts' expectations of USD0.32 per share. Revenue at the software giant was also down year-on-year, coming in at USD12.92 billion, down 14 percent from the third quarter last year. Despite the drop in revenue and profit Microsoft proclaimed itself happy with its performance. "We are very pleased with our performance this quarter and particularly by the strong consumer demand for Windows," said Microsoft chief financial officer Chris Liddell. It's been a busy week for Microsoft. The firm launched its latest version of the Windows operating system – Windows 7 – and also signed a real-time search deal with micro-blogging phenomenon Twitter.
Staying with results news, BSkyB saw pre-tax profits grow 40 percent to STG180 million in its first fiscal quarter, up from STG129 million last year. Group revenue rose by 10 percent to just under STG1.4 billion. The firm said there was a strong demand for both its Sky+ and Sky HD, with the products adding 411,000 and 287,000 customers, respectively, throughout the UK and Ireland.
Following on from the news on Thursday that Nokia had filed a patent lawsuit against Apple, reports are now suggesting that the iPhone maker could end up having to pay Nokia as much as USD1 billion for the technologies used in the iPhone if it loses the case. In Nokia's suit it claims that all models of the iPhone are infringing on its technology; some 34 million of the devices have been shipped worldwide. Also in its court filing Nokia said it had made several price offers to Apple on a per-patent and on a portfolio basis, but Apple declined the offers.
The UK division of Zurich Insurance has admitted losing data relating to 51,000 of its customers back in 2008. The information was on a backup tape lost en route to South Africa. The insurance firm has acknowledged that the incident "revealed deficiencies in the management of data tape security procedures". It said it has written to the affected customers and has also provided guidance in a dedicated web page outlining what customers can do to protect themselves.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 