IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 2 April
02-04-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
RIM launches BlackBerry app store | Nokia: WiMax = Betamax
The Irish Times says that a campaign to highlight the switch from analogue to digital television broadcast services needs to be implemented immediately, an Oireachtas Communications Committee has heard. TVAccess, a coalition of organisations in the disability and ageing sector, told the committee of the need to start the campaign early to "make sure the most vulnerable and hard to reach don't get left behind". Under EU rules all televisions in the State will have to make the switch from analogue to digital by 2012. The roll-out of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) is scheduled to begin later this year and all analogue signals will be switched off on 1 January 2012.
The paper also says that First Derivatives has acquired Australian tech firm Lepton Solutions, which trades under the name Hologram, as reported by ENN on Wednesday.
The same paper reports that the number of people using internet banking grew 27.8 percent last year, with 2.2 million people now using such services. There was a 31.6 percent increase to 30.7 million online transactions during 2008, according to a report by the Irish Banking Federation/Irish Payment Services Organisation (IPSO). International payments soared by 85 percent year-on-year, while cheque transactions declined for the first time last year. The study revealed that customer satisfaction with internet banking is now higher than that for dealing directly with a bank branch.
With a different angle on the same story, the Irish Independent says there has been a 150 percent increase in phishing attacks, with some bank customers having their accounts cleaned out. Some customers had as much as EUR30,000 taken from their online accounts by fraudsters who gained their access codes by stealth last year. IPSO's Una Dillon admitted there was a surge in phishing attacks last year. In 2007, 25 phishing attacks were successful with total losses in the region of EUR400,000. Last year, there were 5,000 phishing attempts, with 63 successful cases and total losses to the banks of EUR220,000.
The Irish Examiner reports that the possibility of farm scheme applications being submitted with minor errors will be dramatically reduced this year due to new technology on the Department of Agriculture's website, www.agfood.ie. Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith announced that the online application facility for the 2009 single farm payment, the disadvantaged areas scheme, and all other area-based schemes, including the new upland sheep payment, is now live. Those who submit their applications online are much more likely to have their applications cleared for payment more quickly because of in-built validations on the site.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Research In Motion has launched an online store for BlackBerry applications, following the lead of Apple and its iPhone AppStore. The move is part of a larger push by the Canadian firm to appeal to more consumers. "It's a one-stop device shop," said Co-Chief Executive Mike Lazaridis in a keynote address at the CTIA Wireless trade show. RIM said it expects about 1,000 applications to be posted by partners this week.
The paper also notes that Silicon Graphics Inc, once one of the computer industry's highest fliers, has filed for bankruptcy protection for a second time. The company, which makes hardware that helps scientists and engineers manipulate 3D images, will sell its assets to Rackable Systems for USD25 million. Rackable said it plans to use SGI's hardware and services to expand its business in high-performance computing and other sectors. However, its offer could be topped by a higher bidder at a bankruptcy-court supervised auction.
According to the Financial Times, Nokia has dismissed the prospects of the WiMax wireless mobile standard, claiming it is doomed to meet the same fate as Betamax, the video format that lost out to VHS in the 1970s and 1980s. The mobile handset giant is betting the 4G wireless standard LTE (Long Term Evolution) will dominate the mobile world by 2015 and that WiMax will be a big loser. WiMax has suffered a delayed rollout in the US, but its main backer, chipmaker Intel, has claimed the technology is taking hold in other parts of the world.
Free! "In the papers" email newsletter -- get the full text to your in-box every business day. Email itp@enn.ie with 'subscribe' in the subject line.
Building your list: Denise Cox says that in order to build a subscription list you need to be proactive about securing subscriber attention.
