IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 17 October
17-10-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
Irish AOL staff escape worst of job cuts | IBM posts solid Q3 results
The Irish Times reports that the Irish operations of America Online will escape the brunt of global redundancies that will see the firm lose one-fifth of its workforce. The once-dominant internet company, which merged with Time Warner in 2000, is set to cut its worldwide staff numbers from 10,000 to 8,000. A spokesman for AOL in the Republic said that it was seeking a small number of voluntary redundancies "as part of a global restructuring". It is understood that just 10 voluntary redundancies will be sought at the Citywest facility in Co Dublin.
The Irish Examiner reports that over EUR350 million will be invested in software this year by Irish companies and the public sector, according to a survey by iReach on behalf of SAS. Read the full story on ENN.
The Wall Street Journal reports that IBM has posted solid third-quarter results, as growth in its long-troubled services business overcame declines in hardware. However, sales to its biggest customer segment -- the financial industry -- fell as banks were buffeted by the subprime-mortgage credit problems. Big Blue reported net income up 6.3 percent as revenue rose 6.6 percent. Sales growth was aided by foreign-currency adjustments; in constant dollars, revenue was up 3 percent. Per-share earnings rose 16 percent thanks to a stock buyback in May that reduced shares outstanding by 8 percent.
The paper also says that Apple is reducing the price of all songs on its iTunes Store without anti-copying software to USD0.99 from USD1.29, bringing Apple's prices on such tracks closer to those offered by Amazon.com and other rivals in online music. In an interview, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said music on iTunes Plus -- the portion of Apple's online music store featuring songs without digital rights management software -- will feature the reduced price from Tuesday or Wednesday. The new price will apply mainly to songs from EMI Group, the only major recording company with which Apple has cut a deal for DRM-free music so far.
Meanwhile, according to the Financial Times, Apple has confirmed that it will sell its iPhone in France through an agreement with Orange, the country's leading mobile operator. However, the French arrangements may be different to deals reached for the distribution of the iPhone in the US, the UK and Germany. Orange will sell the iPhone for EUR399 when tied to a contract with the mobile operator. However, because of French consumer law, people familiar with Orange said it is also expected to sell the iPhone without a contract.
The paper also says that Microsoft has dropped its appeal against an antitrust ruling in South Korea after losing a similar case in Europe last month. The software giant sent a formal request to the Seoul High Court last week to withdraw its appeal of a ruling by the country's antitrust watchdog requiring Microsoft to unbundle its operating system and pay a SKW33 billion fine for abusing its dominant market position in Korea.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 