IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 4 January
04-01-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Eircom now under STT ownership | Samsung sees LCD success
The Irish Times reports that cable TV operator UPC Ireland is spending EUR20 million in a bid to win back subscribers from satellite broadcaster Sky. UPC has paid EUR10 million for two-year content deals with US sports channel ESPN and Britain's ITV, a move that will add nine channels to its digital TV packages. UPC is also planning a EUR10 million marketing blitz in the first six months of 2010 to try and win new customers.
The Irish Independent says that Eircom staff will be working for a new owner from Monday, as Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT) completes its acquisition of the telco. A spokeswoman for STT noted that the firm would be working closely with management and staff to determine a "sound vision and strategy" in coming weeks.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Samsung Electronics sold 2.6 million units of LCD televisions with light-emitting-diode (LED) technology in 2009, up from its initial target of around 2 million units. Samsung said it expects its LED-backlit LCD TV sales to grow nearly fourfold to 10 million this year. "Samsung plans to make an aggressive move to help its LED TV lineups make up more than half of its total TV models this year," said Samsung in a statement.
The Financial Times says that 'smartbooks' are set to begin an assault on the PC market with the launch of a range of multi-coloured devices that bridge a gap between smartphones and netbooks. Chipmaker Freescale expects its devices, known as reference designs, to be copied by manufacturers and to appear on retail shelves by the summer. It will show off their features at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week -- all-day battery life, constant internet connectivity, a touch screen, Android operating system and an expected price of less than USD200.
The Sunday Tribune reports that the Oireachtas website mistakenly hosted the Sky News channel for a period over Christmas. The site provides live web stream coverage of the debates in the Dail, Seanad and Oireachtas committee rooms. The Sky News images were uploaded in error by broadcast staff, with Oireachtas officials blaming a routine system test for the mistake.
The same paper reports that broadcaster and writer Stephen Fry is stepping back from his Twitter account -- temporarily at least. Fry is "switching off his connections with the outside world" to concentrate on his autobiography. The book is due at his publishers by April. He is one of the social networking website's most popular celebrities.
The Sunday Times reports that ComReg is seeking an explanation from Vodafone as to why some 6,000 mobile phone users were left without a full service over the Christmas period. The communications regulator wants the network to clarify why 4,000 customers suffered delays in switching from other networks to its service, while 2,000 existing customers experienced delays in switching to other providers. Switchovers should only take a matter of hours. A number of customers, "in the high hundreds" according to the network, still do not have a phone service.
The same paper reports that Google is to take on Apple's iPhone with the launch of the Google Nexus One handset, expected to be announced on Tuesday. The phone will offer internet browsing and video games and will have a touch screen. Users will be able to search the web using voice commands.
The Sunday Business Post also reports on the launch of Google's Nexus One, adding that the device is also expected to be offered as an unlocked handset to users, meaning no lengthy contracts will need to be entered into. T-Mobile is expected to be the first US network to offer the Android-based device. The paper also speculates that Apple is readying the announcement of its touchscreen tablet device for later this month, expected to be named the iSlate or iGuide. It is expected to sell for more than EUR800.
The same paper reports that UCD is to offer cut-price computer programming classes to small businesses and unemployed IT programmers. The week-long courses, which will be run in February and March, will target Java skills for up to 100 people per class. The Java course will cost EUR45, and interested parties can apply online at www.crovan.com.
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