Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 521
24-06-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
Irish firms enjoy fruitful week | iPhone 4 ready for launch
Mobile and cable drive broadband growth
Mobile broadband usage continued to grow at a steady pace during the first quarter of 2010, according to ComReg's latest quarterly report. In all, there were 512,382 mobile broadband users at the end of March, up 47.2 percent on the year-ago period, and up 9.7 percent on the previous quarter. Meanwhile, long-dominant DSL broadband, which had 724,268 subscriptions by the end of the quarter, grew just 6.6 percent over the year and 1.4 percent from the fourth quarter. Further behind, but showing strong growth, was cable broadband with 163,455 users, a rise of 44.7 percent on last year and an increase of 8.3 percent on the previous quarter.
Overall, there were 1,509,934 broadband subscriptions by the end of the first quarter, 19.3 percent more than at the same time in 2009, with the growth primarily driven by mobile and cable. Other broadband access technologies like fixed wireless and satellite saw a drop off of 12.1 percent over the year. Just under 79 percent of all broadband subscriptions have speeds of between 2Mbps and 9.99Mbps, while 6.7 percent have speeds of over 10Mbps.
Eircom's share of the fixed broadband market fell below 50 percent during the first quarter to 49.7 percent. Of the other operators who control the remaining 50.3 percent of the market, UPC has a 16.1 percent share, Vodafone has 15.4 percent, Imagine 6.5 percent and Digiweb 3.9 percent. Other operators account for the remaining 8.3 percent.
Irish firms enjoy fruitful week
There was some good news from three indigenous Irish firms this week, including a contract win, a successful funding round and new jobs. First up, interactive e-commerce software firm 10CMS announced that it was closing an investment round of EUR600,000 and plans to add a number of new jobs before the end of the year. The company currently employs 16 people, including contractors, between a product support and operations office in Cork and a London facility where product development and sales are managed. Based on growth to date, co-founder Fergal O'Mullane said the company plans to have 20 staff or more by the end of the year.
In more news of jobs, skills networking start-up Weedle is to create 50 new positions at its base in Blackrock, Dublin, over the next three years. The company, which employs 19 people in Ireland, will create the jobs in the development of next-generation web applications. Weedle's website allows people with professional services, trades, crafts or skills to showcase their products and services online. The site has been live for three months and claims to have attracted users in more than 50 countries.
Another firm creating jobs is IT services company Ergo, which announced on Thursday that it will create 33 new positions over the next three years. Ergo, which provides IT infrastructure and software solutions to the private and public sectors, currently employs 125 people at its East Point Business Park headquarters in Dublin.
Finally, IT firm Calyx has secured a EUR5 million contract to provide software to the Queensland government in Australia. The Dublin-based firm will work with the Department of Education in Queensland, providing its M+ income management software across the Queensland school network to manage the financial transactions of more than 400,000 students.
E-reader market braced for price war
The heat was turned up this week in the e-reader market. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble made significant cuts to the prices of their e-reader devices, the Kindle and Nook. On Monday, Barnes & Noble reduced the price of its Nook e-reader to USD199 and introduced a Wi-Fi-only model for USD149. Just a few hours later, Amazon retaliated by cutting the price of its Kindle e-reader to USD189. Both the Nook and Kindle previously sold for USD259.
The price cuts are seen as the booksellers' way of differentiating themselves from the Apple iPad, which in the 80 days since its launch has sold over 3 million units in the US. Of course, the iPad is a multi-functional device with a colour screen, with a starting price for a Wi-Fi version of USD499. By knocking the price of their e-readers to below the USD200 mark, Amazon and Barnes & Noble have broadened their appeal, making their devices a more attractive option for consumers who may have wanted an e-reader but thought, for an extra USD300 or so, they could have an iPad.
Commentators also suggest this may not be the end of the price cuts, with some predicting that a price war will erupt. Indeed, struggling bookseller Borders got in on the action on Tuesday by announcing it would be selling its Kobo e-reader, which is priced at USD149 and doesn't feature a Wi-Fi internet connection, with a USD20 gift card. Analysts believe that it is only a matter of time before lightweight e-readers like the Kobo, with no internet connectivity, are selling for under USD100.
News of the moves by Amazon and Barnes & Noble prompted James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research, to tell the Wall Street Journal that he now predicts that 6.6 million dedicated e-readers will be sold in the US this year.
iPhone 4 ready for launch
It's launch day for Apple's iPhone 4 in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan on Thursday, with industry commentators predicting crowds of consumers queuing to get their hands on the latest version of the now iconic device. Of course, the smartphone has been available for pre-order since 15 June, although massive demand caused AT&T in the US to suspend online ordering as the system simply couldn't handle the pressure. Still, Apple boasted that it had shifted over 600,000 units of the iPhone 4 in a 24-hour period on that day. Consumers in the US could be facing a struggle to get their hands on the iPhone 4 on launch day, with AT&T revealing that it won't have any of the devices in stock at its stores until 29 June, while Apple itself said it would have a limited number of the smartphones in stock on the day. Reports suggest that consumers are also likely to have a hard time finding the device at other stockists like Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
This iteration of the smartphone appears to have captured consumer imagination, perhaps due to the added features such as multi-tasking and FaceTime video conferencing (albeit with its Wi-Fi-only functionality). Initial reviews coming in have been overwhelmingly positive with Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal calling it "the best device in its class" and a "major leap over its already-excellent predecessor, the iPhone 3GS", and David Pogue of the New York Times calling it "pretty amazing". Both reviewers highlight the issue of dropped calls and poor network reception, specifically in the US, where it is tied to the well-criticised AT&T network. However, they did say that this issue appears to have improved with the iPhone 4.
All told, this looks to be another roaring success for Apple. In a note to investors Deutsche Bank market analysts Chris Whitmore and Joakim Mahlberg said: "Initial demand for the new iPhone is incredibly robust. The analysts predict that Apple will sell 44 million this year and 55 million next year."
Google faces multi-state privacy probe
News of a significant challenge for Google emerged this week, with reports suggesting that a number of US states are considering banding together to investigate the recent privacy breach that saw Google's Street View cars intercept data sent over unencrypted wireless home networks. Connecticut attorney-general Richard Blumenthal, who recently conducted a conference call with over 30 US states on the issue, is to lead the joint probe, which will try to determine whether data privacy laws were broken in any of the states concerned. The investigation will also consider whether current state and federal laws need to be updated.
The US is not the only country where Google is under pressure. It is also facing probes in Germany, France and the UK. France's data protection agency is currently trawling through the data collected by Google, which it says includes passwords and snippets of e-mails. Google handed over the information to the data protection agency, which is assessing whether the internet firm should face charges. In May Germany launched its investigation into the data breach, while British police are also looking into the matter.
For its part, Google has admitted that collecting the data was a "mistake" and has stopped its Street View cars collecting Wi-Fi network data entirely. The cars were originally supposed to be collecting data from public Wi-Fi networks in a bid to map the locations of Wi-Fi hotspots, for example. Earlier this month, a report compiled by a third party looked into the software used by Google. The report can be viewed here. Despite the apologies and internal investigation, it looks like Google could be facing a good deal of pressure on this issue, although it is too soon to tell if it will have long-term implications for the internet giant.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 