Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 522
01-07-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
Highs and lows of iPhone 4 launch | Google to take on Facebook?
Dublin gets major jobs boost
This past week marked quite a buoyant few days on the jobs front. Friday saw somewhat of a jobs bonanza for Dublin, with US call centre firm Stream Global Services announcing that it is to create as many as 400 jobs at its facility there. The jobs come on the back of a significant contract win for Stream with a "leading manufacturer of video game consoles". Reports suggest that the contract is with Microsoft to support European users of its Xbox 360 games console. Though Stream has not confirmed the contract is with Microsoft, it mentioned in a statement on its website that the deal will bring in USD50 million in revenue annually. Stream already employs 300 people in Ireland.
Also on Friday, executive search consultancy firm Spencer Stuart outlined its plans to develop a multi-million-euro global technology and knowledge centre in Dublin, where it will create 100 high-skilled positions. The jobs will focus on software development, information technology support services and data quality. The centre will be responsible for research and development, and the design and deployment of new systems and business processes at Spencer Stuart. "We are confident that Ireland will provide the highly skilled technology talent we need to successfully deliver the next generation of our proprietary systems," said Rick Abel, chief technology officer in Spencer Stuart.
Elsewhere, business networking site LinkedIn announced it was to add 35 finance positions to its recently opened international headquarters in Dublin, while DSG International -- owner of Currys and PC World -- revealed expansion plans this week, saying it aimed to create up to 100 new jobs nationwide by the end of the year.
Positive week for Irish firms
There was more good news from Irish businesses this week in the form of large-scale investment, significant contract wins and new grant aid. First up, US electronics firm Analog Devices, which has a base in Limerick where it employs over 1,000 people, outlined plans for a EUR23 million research and development investment in its Raheen plant. The cash injection will focus on the firm's manufacturing division; it plans to develop new semiconductor process technologies for the medical instrumentation, communications, industrial applications and automotive industries. Some of the R&D will be carried out in conjunction with third-level institutions in the Munster region, including the Tyndall Institute in UCC.
On the same day, Galway-based technology firm Eire Composites announced it had won contracts worth EUR1.9 million with the European Space Agency to develop technologies for next-generation space launchers and satellites. The firm said it will recruit three new engineering graduates to work on the project. Enterprise Minister Batt O'Keeffe welcomed the news, and described the space sector as a burgeoning one in Ireland: "A growing number of high-tech firms are emerging in the space technology sector and Ireland is developing a strong reputation for bringing advanced innovation to the space programme."
Also this week, Dublin-based fabless semiconductor company Movidius was awarded a research and development grant from an EU fund targeted at the Romanian R&D sector. The grant, from the Regional Competitiveness and Employment Objective, will allow Movidius to recruit a team of engineers and academics to work on its 3D video capabilities and design tools for its Myriad mobile multimedia platform. Myriad enables users to capture, edit and share content via mobile social networks. Movidius has a software development centre in Romania where it employs 30 people.
Highs and lows of iPhone 4 launch
Three days after the launch of the iPhone 4, the device had become the most successful product launch for Apple ever. Over 1.7 million of the handsets were sold in that time-frame, surpassing the early sales of the iPhone 3GS. Analysts have said they expect the iPhone 4 to help Apple sell around 36 million iPhones in the year to the end of September.
But it's not all good news for Apple. The firm could well face a class action lawsuit in California as a result of a reception issue, which is now being termed the 'iPhone death grip'. Apple admitted this week that if gripped by the lower left hand corner of the device, network coverage on the iPhone 4 can be blocked. "Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas," according to Apple. "Just don't hold it that way," CEO Steve Jobs helpfully explained. The firm also advised consumers to use one of the iPhone covers, or bumper cases, as they're calling them. In the meantime, the firm has advertised for an "Antenna Engineer-iPhone", saying: "The candidate should be able to design antennas suitable for wireless handheld devices with excellent radiation performance."
Meanwhile, a law firm in California, Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff, has spied an opportunity with the iPhone death grip, and has put out the call to consumers who've been affected by the issue. The law firm claims it's had an "overwhelming" response to its "consumer investigation". Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff is perhaps best known for suing Facebook and Zynga last year for what it called misleading advertising in the popular Farmville and Mafia Wars games.
Google's future in China uncertain
The Google vs China issue has hit headlines again this week as the internet giant's Internet Content Provider licence came up for renewal on 30 June. Unhappy with Google automatically redirecting users in mainland China to its Hong Kong site, the Chinese government has threatened to close down Google's China web presence. The redirecting arrangement, which commenced in March, had allowed Google to avoid self-censoring its search engine in order to meet China's strict internet regulations.
In a blog post, David Drummond, chief legal officer with Google, said the redirection had been working well for Chinese users, however "it's clear from conversations we have had with Chinese government officials that they find the redirect unacceptable -- and that if we continue redirecting users, our Internet Content Provider licence will not be renewed." Without an ICP licence, Google said it can't operate a commercial website like Google.cn. "Google would effectively go dark in China," wrote Drummond.
For now, Google has stopped the redirection and has created a "landing page" on Google.cn which offers visitors an optional link to the Hong Kong site. From there users can use Google.cn services like music and text translate, which Google said it can provide locally without filtering. Based on that move, Google has submitted its licence renewal and is now awaiting Beijing's decision. It is understood that a decision from Beijing is imminent.
Google to take on Facebook?
In more news of Google, the internet rumour mill has gone into overdrive with speculation that the internet firm is readying a Facebook challenger. The rumour first emerged when Digg founder Kevin Rose tweeted that he'd heard speculation that Google was going to launch a social network called "Google Me". The tweet has since been removed, but in a Techcrunch interview, former Facebook CTO Adam D'Angelo, who is currently working on a new project called Quora, shared some information that he'd heard on the grapevine. He said Google Me is a high priority within Google and that there are a large number of people working on the project.
If true, this would mark Google's third attempt at social networking, following failed project Orkut and the more recent Google Buzz, which never really took off. Perhaps Google Me will be third time lucky for the internet giant, although trying to take on the might of Facebook in this arena may be more than Google bargained for.
Facebook is closing in on 500 million users worldwide and just last Thursday revealed it is looking to China, Russia and Japan for its next phase of expansion. Founder Mark Zuckerberg said that with almost 500 million members, Facebook was finding it impossible to maintain its breakneck growth. Zuckerberg told an audience of marketers at the Cannes Lions advertising festival on Wednesday that after relying largely on organic growth, Facebook would soon begin to make its first strategic local moves. "We are down to four countries that we are not the leading social network in," he said, naming Japan, Russia, China and South Korea. "Now for the first time we are focused on doing some specific things in specific countries."
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 