Business podcast: May 26th
John Collins meets an entrepreneurial DIT student, finds out about Ernst & Young’s views on business in India, gets Dominic Coyle’s view on Elan and hears about the race for the IMF top job from Arthur Beesley
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Business podcast: March 24th
John Collins talks to Colm Keena about the conclusions of the Moriarty Tribunal, hears about Kooky Dough from founders Sophie Morris and Graham Clarke, and interviews angel investors Nelson Gray and Sean Baker.
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Business podcast: March 16th
John Collins talks to Paddy Power about Cheltenham, Stephen Falloon from the Grand Canal Theatre, Mike Fitzgerald of Altobridge, and Simon Carswell about the Ireland First group
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The Pirate Bay hits back at Eircom
Eircom has started implementing a “three strikes” rule for broadband subscribers who are repeatedly caught downloading copyrighted music from peer to peer networks (report: here). (more…)
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One on One: Paul Donovan of Eircom
Paul Donovan, chief executive of Eircom, talks to John Collins about the telco’s next generation broadband service, the company’s new majority owners and funding investments in infrastructure.
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One on One: Chris Clark of BT Ireland
John Collins talks to Chris Clark, managing director of BT Ireland, about the local telecoms market and his firm’s first year of pre-tax profits in the Republic in the week that his departure from Ireland was announced.
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Apple’s iPad – winners and losers
Now that the dust has settled a little on Steve Jobs’ launch of Apple’s “magical and revolutionary” new device, the iPad, it’s interesting to see how the market has treated the stocks of various companies who will be impacted by its introduction. I’ve looked at their prices on Wednesday morning versus what they are at the time of writing (lunch time Friday in New York trading).
- Apple: $204.78 down to $195.62. Seems all the hype about Apple’s slate was priced in by the market and we know there was no way it could ever meet expectations.
- Google: $538.77 down to $534.71. The one time allies are now quickly becoming all-out foes. By the time the iPad shifts it may well feature Microsoft’s Bing search rather than Google’s.
- Microsoft: $29.36 down to $28.53. Apple’s perennial rival who once wiped the floor with its Californian rival has tried and failed to make tablets popular. Apple’s success isn’t assured but if it happens its bad news for MSFT.
- Gemalto: $28.35 up to $28.86. A surprise beneficiary. The French maker of smart cards and sims for mobiles has possibly got a lift as it is the main maker of the micro sims that will fit 3G iPads.
- Amazon.com: $120.85 up to $129.00. Amazon couldn’t really lose. Even if the iPad wipes the floor with the Kindle, Amazon’s e-book reader was always a loss leader to seed the e-book market. Amazon will benefit from the shot in the arm that the iPad will give the e-book market.
- Barnes & Noble: $19.19 down to $17.48. It might have the Nook and sell books online but its network 0f retail outlets could become a liability if books turn digital like music.
- Sony: $2,948 up to $3,010. Steve Jobs had a pop at Sony in his keynote but it didn’t dent the shares. Possibly because the Japanese giant is not dependent on any single category of products.
- Nokia: $12.70 up to $13.89. Jobs may have pointed out Apple is a larger mobile device company (by revenue) than the Finnish handset giant, but a return to a profitable quarter in the meantime has driven up the price of its ADRs in New York.
This is of course is a totally unscientific exercise and is not intended as investment advice. It is interesting though.
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Brace yourself for a week of Apple hype
Apple hosts its press event in San Francisco on Wednesday at 6pm Irish time to show off its “latest creation“. Of course it’s being reported as fact now that this will be a new class of device – a touchscreen slate computer, a large iPhone if you will with a 10-11″ screen, which will primarily be a gaming and entertainment device. (more…)
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CES: Why talk about the tech when you have a celeb?
It’s the oldest trick in the book. Get a big name to endorse your product or turn up at your event and you’ll distract any tricky questions about the actual technology.It’s a strategy that has worked brilliantly for Polaroid at CES this morning in Las Vegas. Just after the show opened, the once dominant maker of instant developing film and the cameras that go with it, had a personal appearance from iconic pop star Lady Gaga on its stand, and not surprisingly it was mobbed. The singer of hits like Papparazi and Poker Face has been appointed “creative director” for a new line of products which will hit shops later this year. No one seems too sure what the products will be but the company that was rescued out of bankruptcy by a couple of VC firms last year has certainly scored a marketing hit with its tie up with Lady GaGa, because it had everyone talking at CES.
Bigger companies also use this tactic. Sony’s chief executive Howard Stringer welcomed Taylor Swift on stage during the company’s press conference, while Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer included video footage from Saturday Night Live comedian Seth Meyers (pictured above) in his keynote, which turned out to be the highlight of his appearance.
In fact so popular is the sprinkling of star dust on your new product that the CES organisers released a press release detailing the celebs who are appearing.
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CES: And we’re off…
So after all the pre-show press briefings yesterday and a frankly underwhelming opening keynote from Microsoft head honcho Steve Ballmer last night, the mega tech fest that is the Consumer Electronics Show opened in Las Vegas in the last few hours.I’ve been busy filing stories for the paper which will have extensive coverage in the morning, but here’s some of my thoughts and observations on what I’ve seen so far:
Sony intends to givethe Playstation 3 3D capabilities through a free firmware upgrade. No doubt intended to provide another reason for people to invest in a 3D television no date has been announced.
While lots of people are talking about tablets in advance of Apple’s announcement at the end of the month, the only actual products on display are the touchscreen laptops that the PC industry has been unsuccessfully flogging since 2001. The one notable exception; Lenovo’s IdeaPad U1 which is a notebook with a detachable screen which can operate as an independent tablet running a version of Linux.
The world really doesn’t need any more dedicated e-book reader devices. While the Amazon Kindle and one or two others may prosper smaller players are going to have the market disappear on them when the new generation of tablets/slates appears with the ability to do e-books and so much more.
The industry continues to talk green but reality seems to be catching up – slowly. Greenpeace’s annual report on the consumer electronics sector slammed manufacturers for not moving fast enough to remove hazardous chemicals. But Apple, Sony Ericsson, and Nokia were recognised for making major strdes
Google’s Nexus One, only introduced on Tuesday is already the must-have smartphone to be seen with. It looks great, as it’s slimmer and lighter than the iPhone, but I have yet to play with one.
The Irish are doing their bit to fly the flag. Although the strength of our indigenous tech sector has been in selling to big business or telcos some firms are starting to make major inroads in this space. Belfast-based APTX is showing off kit from the likes of Microsoft, Creative, Bang & Olufsen and others who are using its technology to deliver high fidelity audio over Bluetooth. Amulet Devices is here with version 2 of its voice controlled remote control for Microsoft media centres which apparently has got good feedback from Redmond. And even though Muzu.TV didn’t make the trip it announced yesterday that Samsung will be embedding its music video service in their internet connected TVs.
More later but there’s 2 million square feet of exhibition space that needs to be looked at.
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