IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 13 September
13-09-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
O2 customers charged twice in error | Sun Microsystems to sell Windows
The Irish Times reports that smartphone-maker Palm has launched a new high-end phone on the European market, the development of which was led by the US company's Irish operation. The Palm Treo 500v is the first smartphone the company has developed exclusively for the European market and it will be available from Vodafone in Ireland and a number of other European countries from 1 October. John Hartnett, Palm's senior vice-president for global markets, said that the Treo 500v was the first Palm product to have been brought to market by the Irish facility at Swords, Co Dublin.
The paper also says that the IE Domain Registry has relaxed the rules concerning the registration of dot-ie internet addresses by private individuals, as noted by ENN on Wednesday.
According to the same paper, the Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA) has withdrawn industrial action at HP following intensive discussions with the company, chaired by an independent disputes resolution expert. The IBOA had introduced a withdrawal of overtime and on-call arrangements at the end of August as part of a row over terms and conditions of staff who transferred to HP from Bank of Ireland in 2003.
The Irish Examiner says that over-budget IT projects are costing large Irish and British businesses more than EUR375 million a year. Read the full story on ENN.
The paper also notes that Qumas, a provider of governance, risk and compliance solutions, has named Donal O'Brien as vice-president of development and support and Joanne Morrissey as vice-president of quality. Both will work out of Qumas's headquarters in Cork.
The paper also reports on a pilot project to be run next year in Clane, Co Kildare, by O2 that will enable residents to pay for goods simply by waving their mobile phone. The project is one of at least nine being run around the world over the coming months. The technology works by embedding a chip into a mobile handset, which is then waved in front of a reader machine in order to pay for products or services. O2 is remaining tight-lipped about the project and said it will not make an announcement for a number of months.
Separately, the paper says that thousands of O2 customers had direct debits for September taken out of their bank accounts twice, due to a banking error. On average each of 22,000 customers saw EUR159 too much disappear from their accounts earlier this week, with the total overpayment coming to EUR3.5 million nationwide. The banks have pledged to refund the money and waive any fees if the overpayment caused accounts to become overdrawn.
The Financial Times says that German chipmaker Infineon is planning to cut its stake in Qimonda, its memory chip subsidiary, from 86 percent to as little as 73 percent, a decisive step in reducing its links with the loss-making company. Infineon said it was seeking to sell directly shares equivalent to about 8.5 percent of New York-listed Qimonda, while putting a further 5 percent on the block via a convertible bond.
The paper also says that a US appeals court has halted an import ban on mobile phones containing Qualcomm's 3G handsets, a legal victory in the chipmaker's patent dispute with rival Broadcom. The court's stay, pending appeal, would allow third parties such as LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sanyo and AT&T to import certain handsets into the US. The judge on Wednesday agreed that the third parties had demonstrated "a substantial case on the merits and the harm factors weigh[ed] in their favour".
According to the Wall Street Journal, Sun Microsystems plans to re-sell the Windows operating system, marking a sharp turnabout from its past opposition to the system and to Microsoft. As part of several extensions to a partnership struck by the companies in 2004, Sun has agreed to sell servers that come with Windows installed at the factory. Some customers already run Windows on Sun's x86 systems but had to buy and install the software themselves. The new relationship means that Sun will pay licensing fees to Microsoft when customers order a system with Windows Server 2003.
The paper also says that telecoms equipment giant Alcatel-Lucent has slashed its forecast for full-year revenue growth and said it expects third-quarter operating profit to be "around break-even," sending its shares tumbling. In a statement, Alcatel-Lucent said it now expects revenue growth in 2007 to be flat to slightly up at a constant euro-dollar exchange rate. The company had previously estimated its full-year revenue for 2007 would grow in the mid-single digit percentage range at a constant exchange rate.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 