IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 30 October
30-10-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
MySpace musicians to get virtual stores | BSkyB signs up millionth broadband customer
The Irish Times reports that financier Peter Lynch is backing his former Eircom colleague Robert Haulbrook in a new US business that plans to establish a chain of 50 mobile phone stores in Atlanta, Georgia. Lynch's Prime Active Capital will invest USD5 million for a 49 percent stake in Haulbrook's Cellular Center, which is currently opening its 20th store.
The Wall Street Journal reports that social networking site MySpace and internet start-up Zazzle.com have reached an agreement that will enable musicians with MySpace pages to create virtual stores for T-shirts, posters and other merchandise. A Zazzle "widget" will take fans to an online store the band has set up, featuring a gallery of approved artwork and a range of products to put it on. Zazzle sets a minimum price for each piece of merchandise, to which the individual seller can add a mark-up.
The paper also says that Google is close to unveiling its long-planned strategy to shake up the wireless market, according to sources. The search giant's ambition is to make applications and services as accessible on mobile phones as they are on the internet. Within the next two weeks, Google is expected to announce advanced software and services that would allow handset makers to bring Google-powered phones to market by the middle of next year, sources say. In recent months Google has approached several handset manufacturers about the idea of building phones tailored to Google software.
According to the Financial Times, British Sky Broadcasting expects to overtake Orange in the highly competitive broadband market within three months, the group said as it revealed it had signed up its millionth customer. Della Bushell, BSkyB's director of broadband and telephony, said the group was "directly on target" to be one of the UK's top three internet access providers, with 3 million broadband subscribers, by 2010.
The paper also says that Apple has stopped accepting cash payments for its iPhone handsets, requiring instead that customers pay with a credit or debit card in order to discourage "unauthorised resellers". Apple also said it had reinstated a rule limiting iPhone purchases to two per customer in order to "ensure that there are enough iPhones for people who are shopping for themselves or buying a gift".
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 