Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 508
25-03-2010
by Emmet Cole
New jobs bring new hope | The iPad is coming, the iPad is coming
Cabinet shuffle sees focus on innovation
This week's Cabinet re-shuffle saw an interesting re-positioning of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Headed by Batt O'Keeffe, the department, which has been renamed the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, will shift its focus to encompass 'innovation', with the employment responsibility being spread between the Department of Education and Skills, and the Department of Social Protection.
Third level research funding will also be transferred to the new department, according to Cowen. The HEA had been managing the EUR1 billion Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions on behalf of the Department of Education. The latest move is being seen as a blow to both the HEA and the Department of Education.
The move came just weeks after the Innovation Taskforce published its report calling for increased interest and competency in maths and science; developing linkages between start-ups and multinationals, creation of placement schemes in companies for both graduate and undergraduates; and marketing Ireland as a leading innovation location and destination of choice for European and other overseas investors. Highlighting this report, Cowen promised the new fous of the department would create a "streamlined and focused programme of funding of research and development, aligned with the objectives of enterprise policy".
In general media reaction has been mixed. The Examiner described the re-shuffle as "timid, drab, stale and pedestrian" but identified O'Keeffe as the big winner by virtue of his new position. Meanwhile The Independent reported that 'Tough Nut' O'Keeffe proved himself to be "best boy in the cabinet class." The Irish Times was less gushing about the move, writing: "The new department names, apart from representing structural changes, exemplify the normality that is now attached to government guff about 'innovation' and 'skills', while concrete concepts such as 'science' and, um, 'employment' fall further out of fashion in political circles."
New jobs bring new hope
This week must certainly count as one of the more positive weeks in terms of high-value job creation this year. On Monday eBay announced the creation of 150 jobs at its facility in Blanchardstown, Dublin. The online auction giant already employs more than 1,600 people at its Blanchardstown facility with which it shares with its subsidiary PayPal, the online payment system. Taoiseach Brian Cowen believes the move is "an indication for the fact that Ireland can compete, is competing, and that when we set out strategies they're not simply aspirational," the Irish Times reported on Tuesday.
And on Wednesday, the "professionals" social networking site LinkedIn announced that it was going to base its international headquarters in Dublin. The company has not provided an exact figure for the number of new jobs to be created, but is planning 'several new positions,' including positions in marketing, sales, finance and customer service, RTE reported. LinkedIn claims to have more than 14 million members in Europe and 60 million worldwide. The moves by eBay and LinkedIn are sure to reinforce Ireland's position as an attractive destination for leading internet companies.
Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, the new Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe announced the establishment of IBM's first Smarter Cities Technology Centre, with the creation of up to 200 jobs over the next three years. Located in Dublin, the IDA-supported, EUR66 million centre will employ a skilled, cross-disciplinary team to help cities around the world better understand, interconnect and manage core operational systems such as transport, communication, water and energy.
Mobile broadband: top of the pack
ComReg's report for the fourth quarter of 2009 revealed that by the end of December 2009, there were approximately 1.57 million active internet subscriptions in Ireland -- a 3.5 percent increase on the previous quarter and a 9.3 percent increase on December 2008. Total broadband subscriptions accounted for 1,443,350, or 91.8 percent of all internet subscriptions, by the end of 2009. Meanwhile, narrowband subscriptions continued their decline, falling by 17.3 percent. Narrowband now accounts for just 8.2 percent of all Irish Internet subscriptions.
DSL, mobile and cable broadband subscriptions all grew in the fourth 2009, albeit at varying levels. Although DSL remains the largest broadband access platform in terms of subscriptions its market share fell below 50 percent for the first time and at the end of 2009 it accounted for 49.5 percent of all broadband subscriptions, down from 51.2 percent in the third quarter of 2009.
DSL subscriptions increased by 8.2 percent since December 2008 to 714,016; cable subscriptions grew by an impressive 45.1 percent over the year to 150,910; and, mobile broadband continued its meteoric growth, with subscriptions increasing by 51.2 percent over the year to 466,969.
Showing that interest in higher broadband speeds too is increasing, the report highlighted that 70 percent of all broadband subscriptions are now in the 2Mbps-9.99Mbps category, with over 6 percent in the 10Mbps+ category. Since the first quarter of 2008 subscriptions in 1Mbps-1.99Mbps category has almost halved, from 43.4 percent of all connections to just 23.3 percent.
Google v China saga continues
It's been a interesting week for Google. On Monday -- with Western observers expecting Google to announce the cessation of its Chinese search services because of censorship concerns -- the search engine giant instead announced that it would re-route its Chinese search users to an unfiltered Hong Kong-based Google site. The move allows Google to neatly side-step the censorship issue, by allowing it to discontinue self-censoring search results requested by internet users on the Chinese mainland.
The Chinese government reacted immediately, with an unnamed official at the State Council Information Office -- one of the bodies overseeing internet controls -- branding Google as "totally wrong" and suggesting it had "violated its written promise" with the authorities during recent negotiations between Google and the Chinese government, according to the Xinhua news agency. Meanwhile, Business Week reported that a researcher affiliated with China's Cabinet described Google's decision as a "deliberate plot" to promote the "intrusive strategy" of the US under the guise of supporting a free internet.
And Google is also feeling the business implications of its decision. The company's search engine has been removed from a Motorola handset shipped in China. And China Unicom -- China's second-biggest wireless carrier has since said that it won't offer Google search on its phones.
According to commentators, there is a huge scramble now taking place as companies that had partnered with Google in China start seeking out new partnerships. The situation is made more complicated because the US company's internet service licence in China needs to be renewed soon. All internet service providers in China must have their licences reviewed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: a process that usually takes place sometime in March each year.
The iPad is coming, the iPad is coming
With the Apple iPad launch scheduled for 3 April, there has been much movement in the e-reader segment with other players all vying to ensure that Apple's shiny new product doesn't steal all the limelight.
First up is Amazon, which this week launched two new Kindle apps -- Kindle for Mac and Kindle for the iPad. The move sees Amazon potentially jeopardise its 45 percent e-reader market share by enabling Apple to provide a better user experience on the iPad. However, Amazon's long-term focus, commentators agree, is not on the hardware, but on e-books themselves.
Barnes & Noble also butted in, launching an e-book store for the iPad. Based on its existing e-reader application, the company's new iPad app will give users the option of buying digital books from an online store other than Apple's iBook store. The store will provide access to more than 1 million e-books and periodicals on the bookseller's eBookstore.
Not to be left out, Sony dropped the price on its Pocket Edition Sony Reader by USD30 to USD170, in anticipation of the iPad launch. And HP unveiled details of the Slate (its version of the iPad), which is expected to be released later this year with a price tag of around EUR400. The device will use an Intel Atom processor, run Flash, and come with a USB port, memory card reader, and integrated camera on the rear.
Finally, all the fear in the e-reader segment may well be misplaced. Half of 2,176 internet users surveyed by analytics firm comScore revealed that they would probably use the iPad mostly for browsing the internet and 48 percent said they would use it to check e-mail. Meanwhile, just over a third (37 percent) indicated that they would read books on the device. In a close run result, 14 percent said they intend to buy a Kindle as their e-reading device in the next three months, while 15 percent said they intended to buy an iPad for e-reading.
Whatever happens, it's sure to be an interesting few months in this nascent market.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 