IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 3 November
03-11-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
UK Fraud Office queries Voda deal | Orange reveals iPhone tariffs
The Irish Times says that Google grew its share of the US search engine market in October to more than 80 percent, as reported by ENN on Monday.
The paper also reports on the launch of a state-of-the-art research and development facility at the Tyndall Institute in Cork. Read more on this story on ENN.
In research-related news, the Irish Independent says that a senior academic has warned the Government that plans to consolidate R&D investment at just one or two colleges nationwide are "absurd". University College Cork president Professor Michael Murphy said that excellence was to be found at every Irish university and college and needed to be fostered through greater co-operation rather than enforced consolidation.
According to the Financial Times, the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has contacted Vodafone about its controversial deal to buy a controlling stake in Ghana's third-largest mobile operator. Richard Alderman, director of the SFO, spoke by phone with Stephen Scott, Vodafone's head of legal affairs, last week about the deal. Scott told Alderman that Vodafone had acted entirely properly when concluding a transaction with Ghana's government in July last year to buy a 70 percent stake in Ghana Telecom. The SFO has not launched an investigation but is monitoring allegations of irregularity that have been made in Ghana.
The paper also says that UK mobile operator Orange has revealed its tariffs for Apple's iPhone, dashing consumer hopes of a price war in the run-up to Christmas. Orange's tariffs are broadly similar to those of O2, whose two-year run as the exclusive British network for the iPhone is about to end. Both operators will offer tariffs that start at just under STG30 a month for contracts lasting 18 months. Orange's strategy is to woo customers with its claim to have the best network based on 3G technology, which enables reasonable web surfing on handsets. Orange will begin selling the iPhone on 10 November.
The Wall Street Journal says that PayPal plans to unveil a new system that makes it easier for software developers to integrate its online payments system into other programs. With the new open source software, called PayPal X, users won't have to type their username and password into a separate PayPal website in order to complete a payment. Instead, people will be able to sign into PayPal and make purchases inside applications such as games. "We're taking all of our product capabilities and making them open and that much easier for you to use," said Scott Thompson, PayPal's president.
The paper also reports that worldwide chip sales rose 8.2 percent in September from the previous month, the seventh-straight month of gains, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. For the third quarter, semiconductor sales rose 20 percent from the second quarter. SIA said sales fell 10 percent in September and the third quarter from a year ago, to USD20.6 billion and USD51.7 billion, respectively. SIA president George Scalise said the quarter's results were above expectations and that September's were "in line with historical patterns" as companies build up inventory for the Christmas period.
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