IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 24 November
24-11-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Three's market share restated as 5.8pc | SAP to pay Oracle USD1.3bn in damages
The Irish Times reports that ComReg has restated its second quarter 2010 mobile phone market share statistics, following Three's admission earlier this year that it had overstated its active pre-pay customer base. As a result, the mobile operator's share of the market at the end of the second quarter, including mobile broadband subscribers, has been reduced to 5.8 percent. It was previously listed as 9.2 percent. When mobile is excluded, its share is 2.5 percent. "Three is confident of its continued growth, and our most recent financial figures show that total revenue increased by 9 percent in Ireland in 2010," the company said in a statement.
The Irish Independent reports that Sean Gallagher has said he expects Smarthomes Ltd to return to profit in the next 12 to 18 months. The co-owner of the cabling company was commenting on new returns for Smarthomes Ltd for the 12 months to the end of December 2009, which show that the Dundalk-based firm recorded after-tax losses of almost EUR500,000. Gallagher said the next phase of Smarthomes' development is to concentrate on developing products that will reduce energy consumption in the home.
According to the Financial Times, SAP has been ordered to pay USD1.3 billion in damages to Oracle, over a case of admitted copyright infringement in the US. SAP had admitted that a Texas-based subsidiary, TomorrowNow, had illegally accessed Oracle's servers and stolen its software, but it had argued that the damages should not exceed USD40 million. Oracle had claimed that it was owed at least USD1.7 billion, or what it said it would have charged SAP for a licence to use the software legally. "We are, of course, disappointed by this verdict and will pursue all available options, including post-trial motions and appeal if necessary," said SAP.
In other news from the courts, the Wall Street Journal says that social games maker Zynga Game Network has settled a lawsuit it filed against Walt Disney's Playdom, ending a year-long battle over trade secrets with one of its closest rivals. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Zynga, known for games like 'Farmville' and 'Mafia Wars', sued Playdom in September 2009, alleging that Playdom induced four former Zynga employees to steal trade secrets and use that information to help Playdom develop online social games to compete with Zynga's games.
The same paper says that Google is in talks to license digital film rights from Miramax, according to sources -- a move that could help Google's YouTube compete for viewers and advertisers with online video businesses such as Netflix, Apple and Hulu. A YouTube spokesman declined to comment on the discussions but said Google is "always talking to the studios about different things and Disney remains a valuable YouTube partner."
The paper also notes that computer maker Acer has unveiled plans to begin selling tablet PCs that run Microsoft and Google software. The Taiwanese company said it will release three touchscreen tablets next year. The first, based on Microsoft's Windows platform, will have a 10.1 inch screen and be released in February. Acer will also release two tablets using Google's Android platform in April, one with a 7-inch screen and one with a 10.1-inch screen.
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