IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 7 July
07-07-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
IT Alliance to invest in British expansion | Apple bans apps after bogus purchases
The Irish Times reports that the Communications Workers Union (CWU) plans to appoint independent financial advisers to examine Eircom's new three-year business plan, which is believed to involve a large number of redundancies and significant changes to work practices. This followed a lengthy meeting of the CWU's national executive to discuss the business plan. CWU general secretary Steve Fitzpatrick said weekend reports that Eircom was planning to cut another 2,000 jobs were "complete speculation". "It is impossible at this stage to form a view on the number of jobs that may be impacted as a result of any future agreement on the company's direction, over and above the agreements that are already in place," he said.
The Irish Independent reports that a woman is on trial accused of posting adverts on the internet offering sex on behalf of two unwitting people. Aishling Madden is accused of putting up ads on behalf of a man and woman on the Gumtree classifieds website, offering various sexual acts and listing their phone numbers and addresses. The alleged female victim told the court she received up to 20 calls from interested parties before the advert was taken down. Madden, of Clondalkin, Dublin, claimed to Gardai that four people were in her house on the night the posts were made and they did it as a practical joke. She has pleaded not guilty to four counts of defamation, and she has denied a further two counts of publishing material that was grossly offensive, indecent or obscene.
The paper also says that the maker of Hunky Dorys crisps is still featuring scantily clad rugby-playing women on its website, despite a ban by the advertising watchdog on its use of the offensive ads. The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) said that the images and captions on the website were not identical to the ones they had adjudicated on, so they were powerless to require them to be taken down. ASAI chief executive Frank Goodman also noted that it was questionable whether the latest website material was an ad in the strict sense of the term.
The Irish Examiner reports that Irish technology services company IT Alliance is to invest EUR1 million in a significant British expansion. The company, whose headquarters are in Dublin, generated revenues of about EUR20 million in 2009 and is aiming to become a EUR100 million revenue company in the next five years, with much of that growth expected to come from Britain. It employs 250 people in Ireland and 150 in Britain. Delivery director Dara Mullen said the company hopes to increase the number of staff employed in Britain and Ireland.
The Financial Times reports that Samsung Electronics has forecast record operating profit for the second quarter. The company said operating profit for the three months ended 30 June was expected to be around KRW5,000 billion (USD4 billion), up 87 percent from a year earlier. Sales are expected to rise about 14 percent to KRW37,000 billion on a consolidated basis. "The numbers beat our expectations and the momentum is likely to continue throughout the third quarter. But earnings may falter in the fourth quarter because of seasonal factors," said analyst Jay Kim of Mirae Asset Securities. Samsung will report its quarterly results later this month.
The paper also says that Apple has banned dozens of apps from iTunes after bogus purchases from hundreds of compromised customer accounts drove the apps up the e-book popularity charts. Apple said it banned a Vietnamese developer using the name Thuat Nguyen for violations including "fraudulent purchase patterns" and removed his apps from the store. Victims complained that their accounts had paid more than USD100 to buy apps from Nguyen. However, other apps also enjoyed a sudden rush to bestseller status, suggesting that hackers were using the same techniques more broadly. An Apple official declined to rule out a direct breach of Apple's systems. But account log-in names and passwords also could have been captured through deceptive e-mails or computer viruses.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Sony has cut up to USD50 off its prices for e-reader devices. The Japanese company reduced the price of its high-end 'Daily Edition' e-reader to USD299, down from USD349, and the price of its entry-level device to USD149, down from USD169. Sony's move follows decisions by rivals Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com to cut prices on their e-readers last month.
The paper also notes that Microsoft is planning to lay off a small number of employees as early as this week, according to sources. The number of job cuts planned is not known, but a source said the number of people affected is far smaller than the approximately 5,000 employees Microsoft laid off last year. The layoffs are expected to be dispersed throughout the company, this person said.
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