IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 20 January
20-01-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
IBM profit rises in Q4 | Samsung settles Rambus case
The Irish Times reports that the Minister for Justice has published a Bill allowing for the establishment of a national DNA database. Read more on this story on ENN.
The paper also says that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is cutting 221 jobs from its technology services offices across Ireland, as reported by ENN on Tuesday.
In more positive news, IT group Parity is to set up a Microsoft centre of excellence in Belfast, while US firm StreamServe is establishing a sales and customer service operation in Galway, the same paper reports. Read more on both of these stories on ENN.
Meanwhile, the paper says that Japanese group Sajan is to create 35 new jobs, as reported by ENN on Monday.
The paper also reports that turnover at Sony's Irish computer entertainment division plunged nearly 40 percent in the year to the end of March 2009. Despite a drop of almost EUR20 million in sales, pre-tax profits at Sony Computer Entertainment Ireland grew to just under EUR635,000 up from EUR435,000 the previous year. Separate accounts filed for Sony Music Entertainment Ireland showed that unit posted a profit of EUR2.13 million for the 15 months to the end of March 2009.
The Irish Independent reports that new research claims that children who are frequent users of SMS abbreviations are unlikely to be problem spellers or readers. The study, funded by the British Academy and carried out by Dr Clare Wood from Coventry University, looked for evidence of a link between text-abbreviation use and literacy skills. "We were surprised to learn that not only was the association [between texting and literacy] strong, but that textism use was actually driving the development of phonological awareness and reading skills in children," said Dr Wood. "Texting also appears to be a valuable form of contact with written English for many children as it enables them to practice reading and spelling on a daily basis."
The paper also says that the former managing director of Xilinx Ireland got a USD350,000 golden handshake months before the tech firm cut 120 local jobs last summer. The payment to Paul McCambridge is detailed in Companies' Office filings for Xilinx Ireland, which still employs more than 200 people. A spokesman for Xilinx Ireland declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding McCambridge's departure.
The Irish Examiner notes that twice as many SME owners are looking to the year ahead with confidence, compared to this time last year. Read more on this story on ENN.
According to the Wall Street Journal, IBM's fourth-quarter profit rose 8.7 percent, thanks to cost-cutting at its services arm, as revenue increased only slightly. The company booked a record USD18.8 billion in new services contracts in the quarter. Big Blue recorded a profit of USD4.81 billion, or USD3.59 a share, up from USD4.43 billion, or USD3.27 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 0.8 percent to USD27.23 billion, but fell 5 percent when adjusted for currency swings. IBM said it expected to reach at least USD11 a share in profit in 2010, compared with its previous prediction for USD10 to USD11 a share.
The paper also says that Samsung Electronics has agreed to pay USD900 million over five years to Rambus as part of a deal to settle litigation over memory chips. Under the agreement, which includes new technology collaboration between the companies, Samsung will make an up-front payment to Rambus of USD200 million, along with quarterly payments of around USD25 million over five years. Samsung also agreed to buy USD200 million worth of newly issued Rambus stock. Samsung said the settlement will not have a significant effect on its earnings because it had already set aside provisions.
The Financial Times notes that Sony is to delay the launch of a motion-sensing controller for the PlayStation 3 games console until autumn 2010. The delay means the PS3 motion controller will have to go head-to-head with Microsoft's new motion controller for the Xbox 360, which is due for launch in time for Christmas 2010. Sony said the delay was because it wanted to have enough games ready that use the controller in order to drive its sales.
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Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 