IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 30 September
30-09-2010
by Sheila M Averbuch
eMobile to create 50 jobs at retail outlets | Cisco plans home videoconferencing on high-def TV
Most papers report on the launch of eMobile, the new mobile phone brand from Eircom, which will create 50 jobs in retail outlets and will be supported by a EUR2.5 million marketing campaign. While the company's existing mobile brand, Meteor, has targeted the under 25s, eMobile will target an older segment, including existing Eircom landline and broadband customers; both brands will use the 085 prefix. Eircom landline customers can get a EUR5 discount per month on eMobile fees by bundling of services together, but customers will be billed separately for their different Eircom services.
The papers also report on the 25 percent jump in profits at online media group Daft Media Ltd. Pretax profits at the company totalled EUR2.18 million last year, although profits were depressed by a write-down of its investment in Boards.ie. Daft holds a 71 percent stake in Boards.ie but has written this down by more than EUR1.15 million. Revenue at the company was up 6 percent to EUR6.1 million.
The Irish Times reports that Google users can now access Irish city street views following the deployment of its street view cameras in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. The service was launched in the US in 2007 and caused significant controversy in territories including Germany and the UK; in Germany residents can apply before 15 October to "opt out" of street view.
The Irish Examiner reports that Zamano, the Irish mobile phone content company, saw its revenue tumble in the first half of 2010 and suffered from an impairment charge of more than EUR6 million due to acquisitions it made during 2007. Group revenue fell by more than a third to EUR8.75 million. But the company also reduced its debt from EUR11.8 million to EUR5.7 million and said it has completed a restructuring program which has removed considerable cost.
The paper also reports that the first Star Wars episode, The Phantom Menace, will be released in 2012 in 3D, followed by 3D versions of the rest of the Star Wars film saga. Director George Lucas's film production company, Lucasfilm, released a statement on Wednesday, saying that the saga lended itself perfectly to the three-dimensional film format.
The Wall Street Journal reports on Cisco's move to pressure Skype with high-end videoconferencing technology for the home market. Next Wednesday Cisco is expected to announce the USD600 system with a USD30 monthly subscription charge, which will connect home high-definition TVs to the Internet. Cisco's high-end "telepresence" videoconferencing systems for the enterprise market have attempted to replace corporate travel with a hyper-realistic conferencing experience, although setup costs have dampened enthusiasm among potential buyers. Cisco's move to bring a better quality video experience into the home market follows its acquisition of the conferencing company Tandberg for USD 3.3 billion and Pure Digital Technologies Inc., maker of the Flip camcorder, for USD 590 million.
The paper also reports on Google CEO Eric Schmidt's vision of the "serendipity engine," outlined by Schmidt at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference. Schmidt -- who noted that Bing, not Facebook or Apple, is Google's primary competitor -- predicted that mobile phone power and cloud computing power will merge to "tell people things they may want to know as they are walking down the street, without having to type in any search queries." Schmidt said the debate about privacy and personal data is "healthy," and he said people will have to opt in to share the data that would make so-called serendipity services work.
The Financial Times reports that negotiations on legislation which may have provided a protection to net neutrality have fallen apart in the US. The net neutrality principle is that internet service providers will not hinder or favour the delivery of specific content. The legislation would have prevented mobile operators from blocking websites and stopped telecoms companies from "unjustly or unreasonably" discriminating against lawful internet traffic. The legislation also looked to prevent regulation of broadband services by the Federal Communications Commission. Democrats said the failure of the legislation means the FCC must now regulate broadband companies.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 