Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in May, which includes hardware, software and accessories, reached US$149.8m, the most for any console in the US, Microsoft announced.

The Xbox 360 sold more units than any other platform, Microsoft said, citing new data from the NPD Group.

During May, the Xbox 360 held seven of the top 10 console game titles, including Dead Island: Riptide, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Metro: Last Light, NBA 2K13, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, BioShock Infinite and Halo 4.

Dr Windsor Holden, author of the report Mobile Commerce Markets: Sector-by-Sector Trend Analysis & Forecasts 2013-2017, said a significant minority of retailers have yet to optimise their sites for mobile.

“Unless retailers ensure a seamless, user-friendly mobile shopping experience, they will fall behind competitors who are already using mobile channels to enhance customer relationships,” Holden said.

The report also pointed out that lengthy point of sale (POS) infrastructure replacement lifecycles were hampering near field communications (NFC) deployments in both the retail and transport sectors, with players reluctant to upgrade infrastructure without a demonstrable return on investment.

The increasing popularity of mobile devices for bill payment is reflected in the fact that the mobile banking sector accounts for the lion’s share of transaction values over the next five years, the report reveals.

However, to put global m-commerce into context, total financial transactions in the US alone exceeded US$4.2trn in 2012.

NFC payment image via Shutterstock

Financial details of the acquisition have not been disclosed, but it is understood that CarTrawler has purchased the online assets of Holiday Autos and not the brand's operations.

Set up in 1987, Holiday Autos is owned by Travelocity Global and the car hire brand has a presence in more than 5,000 locations around the world.

The online assets that CarTrawler has acquired include the Holiday Autos brand, Holiday Autos URLs and domain names and business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) commercial agreements.

Under a separate agreement, CarTrawler will become the exclusive provider of car rentals to the travel deals site Lastminute.com, which is also part of Travelocity Global.

Set up in 2004

Brothers Greg and Niall Turley founded CarTrawler in 2004. The company was spawned from a family business called Argus Car Hire.

CarTrawler connect airlines, hotel groups and online travel brands in real-time to car rental agents in 174 countries.

In 2011, the UK private equity firm ECI Partners invested in CarTrawler, reportedly taking a 50pc stake in the company. Founders Greg and Niall Turley moved to non-executive positions on CarTrawler's board of directors.

CarTrawler remains headquartered in Dundrum, Co Dublin, where it employs 155 people.

Global reach

Following the acquisition of Holiday Autos, CarTrawler expects to have gross sales of €500m.

"The acquisition of these online assets will drive CarTrawler's growth through diversification and increased scale and will deepen our geographic footprint," said CEO Mike McGearty.

He said the acquisition will complement CarTrawler's existing aviation, travel, hospitality, leisure and consumer channels.

"Our strategy is to realise the strong economic potential of the Holiday Autos assets through the platform," added McGearty.

Forkstream, a policy management company supported by Enterprise Ireland, has technology that enables operators to define policies for routing mobile data streams within and between different access networks.

Forkstream’s client side technology links to the network core via Openet’s Interaction Gateway, which lets operators manage network access policies using their Policy Controls Rules Function (PCRF), and uses standards that allow consumer devices to find and communicate with non-3GPP networks, such as Wi-Fi or WiMAX.

This, the companies said, provides granular control of traffic offload policies and enables new business models that include service options specific to an access network.

“Integrating Forkstream into the Openet PCC ecosystem enables our customers to overcome many challenges related to seamlessly integrating multiple access networks with cellular services,” said Openet CTO Joe Hogan.

“They developed an elegant solution to ensure cross-network session continuity and flow management, which is key to a quality user experience.”

Forkstream co-founder John Fitzpatrick said the company is thrilled to join Openet at a time when operators are investing heavily in multi-access networks and cross-network services.

“Supporting network access decisions within the policy and charging infrastructure makes it easy for operators to deliver more to their customers,” Fitzpatrick said.

EU to give consumers powers to sue tech giants in anti-trust cases

A new proposal published this past week by the European Commission aims to give consumers the power to pursue legal action against tech giants and cartels found to be behaving in an anti-competitive manner and abusing their market power.

The move could see internet giants like Google and Microsoft potentially be the target of court cases taken by private individuals seeking damages if they believe they are the victim of market abuse.

The proposal points out that the enforcement of EU competition rules is best guaranteed through complementary public and private enforcement.

However, it points out that the current existing legal framework fails to regulate the interaction between the two strands of competition law.

In two years, digital products will account for 57pc of media income – report

Now is the time for media firms to invest in digital products or face being left behind when earnings from traditional media lose out to digital sales, a new report from Ernst & Young suggests.

Following a survey of more than 550 senior executives at technology, gaming, publishing, film, broadcast media and social networking companies, Ernst & Young discovered that 47pc of all revenues in media and entertainment companies currently comes from digital products.

The professional services firm then forecast 10pc growth in these revenues over the next two years, reaching 57pc of overall income by 2015.

Xtra-vision is saved: receivers sell business to Hilco Capital

High-street video and gaming rental and retail firm Xtra-vision has been saved after its receivers Ernst & Young completed the sale of the business and its assets to a number of firms backed by Hilco Capital Ireland for an undisclosed sum.

The sale includes the business, stock and head office in Tallaght, Dublin, helping to safeguard jobs across the island of Ireland and secure a future for the Xtra-vision brand. 

Hilco Capital is an international restructuring business that invests in distressed businesses across sectors like retail and manufacturing.

Google acquires sat-nav app Waze

Internet search giant Google has confirmed its acquisition of sat-nav smartphone app Waze. Terms of the purchase have not been disclosed.

Under the deal, Google expects to enhance Google Maps with some of the traffic update features provided by Waze and enhance Waze with Google’s search capabilities.

The Waze product development team will remain in Israel and operate separately for now, said Brian McClendon, vice-president of Google’s Geo products.

Irish universities forge R&D pact with Japanese drugs giant Shionogi

Ireland’s top universities have entered into a collaboration pact with Shionogi, one of the largest pharmaceutical players in Japan and maker of the cholesterol drug Crestor.

Shionogi will implement in Ireland the Shionogi Science Programme, which the company is working on as part of its globalisation of industry-university collaboration.

Shionogi’s president Isao Teshirogi said the aim of the pact is to seed vital research projects and identify vital research talent as part of its global HR strategy.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed with NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth, UCD, University of Limerick, the Royal College of Surgeons and Trinity College Dublin.

Dublin-based Keywords Studios plans stg£10m IPO

Dublin-headquartered Keywords Studios announced last week it intends to float on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), and seeks to raise stg£10m in its initial public offering (IPO).

Keywords Studios provides localisation, audio and testing services to the global video-games market. Its client base includes EA, Disney, Microsoft, and Blizzard Entertainment.

The company is hoping to raise stg£10m to expand its localisation services into new entertainment markets, such as online gambling and e-learning, and to make acquisitions.

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Will heads roll over Snoopgate?

The never-ending car crash that is the fallout over revelations of Snoopgate – the US intelligence apparatus’ surveillance of internet data usage inside and outside the US – continues.

According to The Washington Post, top leadership reached the brink of resignation over electronic surveillance orders they believed to be illegal.

“President George W Bush backed down, halting secret foreign intelligence-gathering operations that had crossed into domestic terrain. That morning marked the beginning of the end of STELLARWIND, the cover name for a set of four surveillance programmes that brought Americans and American territory within the domain of the National Security Agency for the first time in decades. It was also a prelude to new legal structures that allowed Bush and then-President (Barack) Obama to reproduce each of those programmes and expand their reach.”

Facebook and Microsoft reveal legal orders

No doubt aware that trust and respect of privacy are their bread and butter in the digital age, Facebook and Microsoft disclosed they received legal orders to turn over details on about one-thousandth of 1pc of user accounts.

CNET reported that Microsoft and Facebook became the first companies to disclose the total number of legal orders they received for user data, including ones from the National Security Agency and from state, local, and federal police performing criminal investigations.

“The total for Facebook: About 18,000 accounts over a six-month period, or one-thousandth of 1pc of user accounts.

“Microsoft’s total was about 31,000 accounts over the same six-month period ending 31 December 2012. A Google representative told CNET this evening that the search company is working on disclosing the same type of statistics, and plans to be more detailed than Microsoft and Facebook.”

Is Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor to the US?

But the question of whether Edward Snowden, the ex-CIA contractor who lifted the lid on this veritable can of worms is a hero or traitor has been raised as reports emerge he may sell secrets he gleaned to China.

Business Insider’s Henry Blodget said: “Snowden, most people agreed, had revealed outrageous, illegal privacy abuses by the US government spying machine. Revealing these secrets was a patriotic act, people said. Snowden might have broken some laws, but he had America’s best interests at heart. Americans should be grateful.

“A few days later, however, Snowden’s motives seem less pure. And his characterisations of US intelligence activities seem less accurate, more personal, and more naive.”

New Xbox Music layout

Moving on to a more pleasant topic, music, it appears Microsoft is about to unveil a new-look Xbox Music design, according to The Verge.

The Verge reported: “Screenshots of the new Xbox Music update show a two-panel interface that appears to improve discoverability of music and the ability to quickly access a collection of songs. Xbox Music originally launched in October for Windows 8 and Windows RT devices, with the ability to access songs from an Xbox 360, too. Although the service includes most popular songs and albums, the interface has often been slow and clunky on Windows 8 and Windows RT devices. The updated app clearly aims to improve that, with a ‘simplified design and layout’, according to Microsoft.”

Google to close down AdWhirl

TechCrunch reported that Google is planning to close down AdWhirl, a platform that lets developers flit between different ad platforms, indicating a consolidation of its position in the online advertising space.

It reported: “In a letter to developers sent out today, Google said that they will wait until 30 September to decide where they would like to move their ads. It’s encouraging them to migrate to AdMob Mediation, a competing tool that it launched after the acquisition while continuing to support AdWhirl. They can also continue to use AdWhirl, if they care to use the open source code ‘to run their own AdWhirl service’. But Google won’t be involved with hosting or supporting it.”

Whatsapp with Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia is on the verge of banning mobile messaging app Whatsapp, right after blocking Viber, according to CNET.

“The Saudi Arabian government has cracked down on messaging apps before, temporarily banning BlackBerry messenger services after BlackBerry reportedly didn’t adhere to the country’s regulatory requirements. The Saudi government complained at the time that the encrypted security used in the BlackBerry network prevented the government from monitoring communications channels, which it said could be used to threaten national security.”

In March, Saudi officials threatened to block popular internet chat, call, and messaging services Skype, WhatsApp, and Viber if they did not comply with local regulations.

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ReNeuron Group PLC

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Under the deal, Google expects to enhance Google Maps with some of the traffic update features provided by Waze and enhance Waze with Google’s search capabilities.

“To help you outsmart traffic, today we’re excited to announce we’ve closed the acquisition of Waze. This fast-growing community of traffic-obsessed drivers is working together to find the best routes from home to work, every day,” Brian McClendon, vice-president, Geo, wrote on the Official Google Blog.

The Waze product development team will remain in Israel and operate separately for the time being, McClendon wrote.

Waze CEO Noam Bardin wrote on Waze’s blog that Google shares Waze’s vision of a global mapping service, updated in real-time by local communities.

“We are excited about the prospect of working with the Google Maps team to enhance our search capabilities and to join them in their ongoing efforts to build the best map of the world,” Bardin wrote.

“Together, we can accelerate our mission to outsmart traffic. We will continue to make a real impact on drivers globally, helping them save time and money while making everyone’s daily commute a bit more efficient and fun.”

The sale of the business includes the business, stock and head office in Tallaght, Dublin, helping to safeguard jobs across the island of Ireland and securing a future for the Xtra-vision brand. 

Hilco Capital is an international restructuring business that invests in distressed businesses across sectors like retail and manufacturing. The company acquired HMV businesses in Canada and the UK.

Hilco Capital businesses have a combined turnover of US$1.3bn around the world and employ more than 6,500 people.

“In what has been a very challenging time and volatile climate for retailers, it is particularly pleasing to have completed the sale of Xtra-vision, one of Ireland’s strongest retail brands and protecting jobs across the island of Ireland,” said joint receiver Luke Chartlon.

“It provides a solid financial footing on which the business can be taken forward and we wish Hilco Capital Ireland Limited and Xtra-vision every success with the business in the future.

“The brand Xtra-vision is well recognised and well respected by customers. We are extremely grateful for the support and loyalty showed by all employees and customers during what has been an uncertain time, and would like to thank everyone at Xtra-vision for their commitment and hard work during the receivership process,” Charlton said.

The good news for Xtra-vision comes as it emerges that HMV is currently recruiting 100 people as it plans to reopen four stores in the Republic of Ireland, including its locations in Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, Dundrum Town Centre, Henry Street and at Limerick’s Crescent Shopping Centre.

Hilco acquired HMV in a deal estimated to be worth €59m.

The move could see internet giants like Google and Microsoft potentially be the target of court cases taken by private individuals seeking damages if they believe they are the victim of market abuse.

“The present proposal seeks to ensure the effective enforcement of the EU competition rules by optimising the interaction between the public and private enforcement of competition law; and ensuring that victims of infringements of the EU competition rules can obtain full compensation for the harm they suffered.”

The proposal points out that the enforcement of EU competition rules is best guaranteed through complementary public and private enforcement.

However, it points out that the current existing legal framework fails to regulate the interaction between the two strands of competition law.

Tech anti-trust investigations in Europe

Both Microsoft and Google have been the subject of anti-trust investigations in recent years..

An anti-trust investigation into Google has been under way since November 2010. In response to complaints from a number of companies, including Microsoft and TripAdvisor, as well as smaller competitors across Europe, the commission launched a large-scale investigation to review Google’s dominant market position.

Last month, the European Commission imposed a €561m fine on Microsoft for failing to make it easier for Windows users to choose their preferred browser. The commission ruled that Microsoft failed to roll out the browser choice screen with its Windows 7 Service Pack 1 from May 2011 until July 2012.

News of the new proposals for anti-trust legal powers for private individuals has been welcomed by EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes who tweeted: “Took 4yrs longer than I hoped. Today @EU_Commission proposes legislation so u can take private court action if victim of #antitrust violation”.

Set up in Dublin in 1998 by Teresa Luppino and Giorgio Guastalla, Keywords Studios provides localisation, audio and testing services to the global video-games market. Its client base includes Microsoft, EA, Disney, and Blizzard Entertainment.

Recent titles Keywords Studios has worked on include Pro Evolution Soccer 2013, Halo 4 and FarmVille 2.

As well as its Dublin headquarters, the company has offices in Tokyo, Rome, Montreal and Seattle.

Keywords announced its intention to float on the AIM yesterday. The company is hoping to raise stg£10m to expand its localisation services into new entertainment markets, such as online gambling and e-learning and make acquisitions.

"Over the last few years, we have grown rapidly to secure a strong position in the global video-games technical services industry," said chief executive Andrew Day.

With its planned IPO, he said Keywords Studios is seeking to extend its service offering and geographical footprint to take advantage of the high growth forecasted in the global video-games industry.

The company, which employs 120 staff, reported a pre-tax profit of €2.74m on revenues of €14.34m last year.

Enterprise Ireland’s new strategy to tap into multi-billion euro emerging markets

Enterprise Ireland has established a new clustering programme aimed at ensuring Irish firms target the billions of euros worth of opportunities in emerging markets, particularly those funded by international financing institutions like the World Bank and European Commission.

The clustering programme called ConsultingIreland will help Irish exporters tap into these emerging markets through a nine-month training and mentoring programme.

The programme will have both a national and international dimension and as part of this drive the first international agreement will be signed at the launch between ConsultingIreland and Alsace International, which is one of the most ‘internationally-active’ of the French regions. Further co-operation agreements will follow with other national and regional associations involved in international projects.

The programme will kick-off in September and applications from interested parties are welcome right now.

Salesforce.com to acquire ExactTarget in a US$2.5bn whopper of a deal

Cloud player Salesforce.com has entered into an agreement to acquire sales and marketing platform ExactTarget in a transaction valued at US$2.5bn.

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies.

The plan is to combine ExactTarget’s digital marketing capabilities with Salesforce.com’s business and social marketing tecnologies.

However, no sooner had the acquisition of ExactTarget been announced than an investigation on behalf of shareholders into the deal was launched by New York law firm Bernstein Liebhard LLP.

The firm is investigating whether ExactTarget’s board breached its fiduciary duty to shareholders by agreeing to sell the company to Salesforce.com.

Under the terms of the agreement, ExactTarget shareholders will receive US$33.75 in cash for each share they own.

Zynga to lay off 18pc of workforce – restructuring to focus on mobile and multiplayer

Farmville creator Zynga is to lay off 18pc of its workforce – approximately 520 people – as part of a dramatic restructure to transform the company from a web company into more of a social and multiplayer operation. While the company’s New York, LA and Dallas offices are to bear the brunt of the cuts, the company’s CEO Mark Pincus said the impact of the layoffs will be felt across every group in the company.

San Francisco-headquartered Zynga employs 2,900 people worldwide in offices across the world. The company employs around 100 people in Dublin but it is not yet clear what the impact of the cuts will be there.

The cuts will save Zynga US$80m in payroll costs and the company aims to complete the layoffs by August.

In a blog post Pincus said the company needs to restructure and focus on being the leading social gaming service on mobile and multiplatform and not just on the web.

SSE claims to have invested €2bn in Ireland since 2008

Energy utility SSE has marked its fifth anniversary in Ireland, with the company claiming that it has invested the equivalent of €1m every day for the last five years, bringing its total investment in Ireland to over €2bn since 2008.

SSE, which owns the energy supplier Airtricity, now employs more than 1,500 people in Ireland, according to outgoing chief executive Ian Marchant. Of this figure, 400 employees are currently working on the construction of a 460MW gas-fired electricity generation unit in Great Island, Co Wexford, that is due to be commissioned in early 2014.

The energy provider has also acquired a five-storey building at South County Business Park in Leopardstown, Co, Dublin, where it will house up to 650 employees.

An Post launches Admailer.ie with 50 free marketing campaigns up for grabs

To help promote its new marketing service, Admailer.ie, An Post is putting 50 free campaigns on offer, which it claims could attract up to 100,000 new customers to small businesses in Ireland.

Admailer.ie is a new service from An Post that lets registered users create direct mail postcards online for delivery within days. Users can choose from template designs or upload their own and select the streets and areas they want to target using a unique mapping tool, and their postcards will be printed and delivered by An Post in three to four working days.

An Post claims that each direct marketing campaign has the potential to attract up to 2,000 new customers and, with that, has launched a nationwide ‘Big Push for Small Business’ with 50 free campaigns on offer for businesses that register and prepare a postcard for delivery. More details on how to win will feature in local press and on The Sunday Business Show on Today FM.

For those that don’t win a freebie, these campaigns will require a minimum order of 200 postcards at a cost of 58c each (not including VAT).

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Lifting the lid on US intelligence in the cyber age

The weekend’s tech reportage was dominated by analysis and further revelations stemming from newspaper reports during last week about PRISM, a top secret US Government system that, it has been claimed, spies on the servers of several tech giants including Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft.

The Guardian revealed the identity of the whistleblower on NSA intelligence methods – one Edward Snowden – who explained his motives and appears to have resigned himself to never seeing home again.

“He has had ‘a very comfortable life’ that included a salary of roughly US$200,000, a girlfriend with whom he shared a home in Hawaii, a stable career, and a family he loves. ‘I'm willing to sacrifice all of that because I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building.’”

Reuters reported that President Barack Obama's administration is likely to open a criminal investigation into the leaking of highly classified documents that revealed the secret surveillance of Americans' telephone and email traffic.

“The law enforcement and security officials, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said the agencies that normally conduct such investigations, including the FBI and Justice Department, were expecting a probe into the leaks to a British and an American newspaper.

“Such investigations typically begin after an agency that believes its secrets have been leaked without authorisation files a complaint with the Justice Department.

Meanwhile The New York Times had an interesting piece that shed more light on how the US intelligence agencies use technology to mine data more efficiently.

“The partnership between the intelligence community and Palantir Technologies, a Palo Alto, Calif., company founded by a group of inventors from PayPal, is just one of many that the National Security Agency and other agencies have forged as they have rushed to unlock the secrets of “Big Data.”

Today, a revolution in software technology that allows for the highly automated and instantaneous analysis of enormous volumes of digital information has transformed the N.S.A., turning it into the virtual landlord of the digital assets of Americans and foreigners alike. The new technology has, for the first time, given America’s spies the ability to track the activities and movements of people almost anywhere in the world without actually watching them or listening to their conversations,” the newspaper reported.

Is Snapchat worth US$1bn?

Techcrunch reported that fast growing social app Snapchat is raising US$100m in a funding round that values it at a cool US$1bn.

“Several sources have told us Snapchat co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy are shooting for an even more ambitious valuation near US$1 billion. That matches speculation of a higher valuation from Fortune’s Dan Primack. We’ve also heard the company may be in talks with its $13.5 million Series A round leader Benchmark Capital about joining the Series B. We’ve also heard that this round has already closed, but can’t confirm that yet,” Techcrunch reported.

Meanwhile, Google set to acquire Waze for US$1.3bn

Speaking of massive valuations, Israeli news service Globes reported that Google is very close to concluding its acquisition of social mapping service Waze, also the target of acquisition by Yahoo! and Facebook.

“The acquisition of the Israeli navigation app and traffic report start-up will be completed after months of reports that Waze would be sold to either Google or Facebook Inc.

“Ra'anana-based Waze has almost 50 million users. This is a big number for an Israeli company, which probably helped it achieve the hoped-for exit.”

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Monday 10 June

Camelot Information Systems

Sonic Corp

Tuesday 11 June

CML Microsystems PlcVianet Group PLC

Workspace Group PLC

Wednesday 12 June

Advanced Computer Software Group PLC

Agilysys Inc

Thursday 13 June

Bodisen Biotech Inc

Friday 14 June

Calypte Biomedical Corp

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“Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail advises customers that in recent weeks, purchases made by certain payment cards at Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) in Iarnród Éireann stations have not been charged against customers’ accounts,” the company said today.

“This fault has now been rectified and the company has outlined for customers how it will now charge customers for tickets purchased.”

The rail company explaind that during an upgrade to the TVMs by a contractor a fault developd that saw tickets issued and payments authorised for certain payment cards.

However, the payment was not subsequently deducted from the customer’s card accounts.

“This affected certain payment cards but primarily affected AIB Maestro Debit cards.

“Over 9,000 individual cards were not charged as a result,” Irish Rail stated on its website.

The non-payment period occurred between 28 March and 31 May.

The transport organisation said that the payments will be processed in a number of steps involving a mass withdrawal on cards where one purchase was made during the period on Monday.

Transactions between 24 and 31 May and cards with less than €50 in transactions will also be processed on Monday.

Cards involving ticket purchases in amounts of over €50 will be debited on a phased basis in line with one week intervals between the earliest charge.

Irish Rail said it apologised for any inconvenience the fault will cause customers.

Admailer.ie is a new service from An Post that lets registered users create direct mail postcards online for delivery within days. Users can choose from template designs or upload their own and select the streets and areas they want to target using a unique mapping tool, and their postcards will be printed and delivered by An Post in three to four working days.

An Post claims that each direct marketing campaign has the potential to attract up to 2,000 new customers and, with that, has launched a nationwide ‘Big Push for Small Business’ with 50 free campaigns on offer for businesses that register and prepare a postcard for delivery. More details on how to win will feature in local press and on The Sunday Business Show on Today FM.

For those that don’t win a freebie, these campaigns will require a minimum order of 200 postcards at a cost of 58c each (not including VAT).

According to research conducted in Dublin and Munster by Amárach Research for An Post, 64pc of small business owners say that selling existing products to new customers is their top priority. While 51pc of those surveyed believe direct mail is an effective way to reach new households and target new customers, 38pc have yet to work out how to allocate their marketing budget this year.

SSE, which owns the energy supplier Airtricity, now employs more than 1,500 people in Ireland, according to outgoing chief executive Ian Marchant.

The energy provider has also acquired a five-story building at South County Business Park in Leopardstown, Co, Dublin, where it will house up to 650 employees.

Speaking this morning at SSE's new corporate headquarters in Dublin, Marchant said that since the company acquired Airtricity in 2008, its Irish operation has expanded rapidly.

“Five years on our growth translates to €2bn invested in Ireland or just over €1m every day since 2008."

He said that SSE now employs over 1,500 people in Ireland across its energy businesses including energy generation, supply and services; thermal and renewable development; and public lighting and electrical contracting.

Of this figure, 400 employees are currently working on the construction of a 460MW gas-fired electricity generation unit in Great Island, Co Wexford, that is due to be commissioned in early 2014.

Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte, TD, was also at SSE's new Dublin offices where he spoke about the company's commitment to the Irish economy.  

"I welcome the fact that SSE now has over 1,500 people in employment on the island," said Rabbitte.

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies.

The plan is to combine ExactTarget’s digital marketing capabilities with Salesforce.com’s business ans social marketing tecnologies.

Gartner estimates that by 2015 consumer technology companies will have switched one-third of their traditional marketing budgets to digital, and CMOs will outspend CIOs on information technology by 2017.

“The chief marketing officer is expected to spend more on technology than the CIO by 2017,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com.

“The addition of ExactTarget makes Salesforce the starting place for every company and puts Salesforce.com in the pole position to capture this opportunity,” Benioff said.

Investigation into ExactTarget acquisition

However, no sooner had the acquisition of ExactTarget been announced than a an investigation on behalf of shareholders into the deal was launched by New York law firm Bernstein Liebhard LLP.

The firm is investigationg whether ExactTarget’s board breached its fiduciary duty to shareholders by agreeing to sell the company to Salesforce.com.

Under the terms of the agreement, ExactTarget shareholders will receive US$33.75 in cash for each share they own. 

“The investigation is focused on the potential unfairness of the price to ExactTarget shareholders and the process by which the ExactTarget Board of Directors considered and approved the transaction,” the firm stated.

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Ireland rises up the ranks in global competitiveness

Ireland has risen three places to become 17th in the world for overall competitiveness, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook.

The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook has ranked Ireland in third place for availability of skilled labour and first for flexibility and adaptability of its workforce, first for its attitudes to globalisation and first in terms of investment incentives.

Ireland also made significant improvements in areas including government finances, growth and inflation.

More than half the executives surveyed for the report identified a competitive tax regime, skilled workforce, business friendly environment, and high educational levels as key attractiveness factors in Ireland. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook: ‘We have no special deal with the Irish Government’

The CEO of Apple Tim Cook told the All Things Digital D10 conference last week that the company has no special tax deal in place with the Irish Government.

The issue rose up recently after a US Congress sub-committee zeroed in on Apple as part of an overall focus on where US multinationals pay taxes on their profits.

Irish Government ministers have repeatedly denied that Apple received a special tax deal since setting up in Cork in 1980.

Cook laid the whole issue of the repatriation of profits and where taxes go at the feet of successive US governments. “It’s a Band-Aid-and-paper-clip kind of thing. Over the years, Congress has kept Band-Aiding it.”

Cook said Apple pays US$6bn in US taxes, “more than anyone else.”

The Apple CEO also suggested a plan whereby Apple would pay even more but in exchange would repatriate all the cash it has offshore.

“We have no special deal with the Irish Government,” Cook said.

E-government improving, but citizens want more, more, more

Almost half (46pc) of European Union (EU) citizens go online to use e-government services but many of them said they are more satisfied with online banking and online shopping than they are with online public services, The eGovernment Benchmark 2012 report revealed.

These users are more satisfied with online banking (8.5 satisfaction rating on a scale of 0 to 10), and online shopping (7.6) than with public services online (6.5).

Neelie Kroes, European Commission vice-president responsible for the Digital Agenda, said these are promising trends for e-government in Europe but “when users are more satisfied with online banking than online public services, it shows that public administrations must do better at designing e-government services around users’ needs. And we have to do more to make e-government work across borders.”

PC industry outlook worse than expected, IDC says

The outlook for the PC sector in 2013 is worse than originally predicted, the IDC said. Consumer demand for lighter, versatile and more energy-efficient gadgets over PCs will see PC sales plummet by 7.8pc in 2013.

The analyst firm cited a shift in PC buying trends, as consumers delay PC purchases or opt entirely instead for alternative devices, like standalone tablets or smartphones which suit their computing needs.

Instead of a limited decline of -1.3pc in 2013 followed by a gradual increase in volume, the new outlook calls for a more substantial decline of -7.8pc in 2013 and -1.2pc in 2014.

PC shipment volume is expected to reach only 333m in 2017 – still below the 349m units shipped in 2012 and a peak of more than 363m units shipped in 2011.

Cisco to acquire energy management player JouleX for US$107m

Networking equipment maker Cisco has revealed its plans to acquire JouleX, an energy management solutions provider, for US$107m in cash and retention-based incentives.

Under the deal, JouleX’s energy management solution, together with Cisco EnergyWise, will provide customers with a way to measure, monitor and manage energy usage for network and IT systems across the enterprise, without the use of device-side agents, hardware metres or network configurations, Cisco said.

Eircom third-quarter revenues fall by €37m

Incumbent telecoms operator Eircom reported a €37m decline in third-quarter revenues of €338m, a 10pc drop.

Operating costs were €153m for the quarter, down €7m from the prior year, a 4pc improvement.

EBITDA decreased by €15m on the prior year to €122m for the quarter, down 11pc on the same period in 2011.

The retail customer base, comprising fixed and mobile customers, stood at just more than 2m at the end of March and includes 1m mobile customers.

The total customer base, including wholesale customers, totalled 2.4m at the end of March.

In terms of broadband, Eircom reported a 1pc decrease in broadband subscribers to 455,000 retail customers. “Work continues at pace as we execute on our investment strategy to build a network for a nation that supports superfast fibre and mobile broadband for consumers and businesses,” Eircom CEO Herb Hribar said.

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US and China to hold cyber warfare talks

The New York Times reported that the US and China are to hold high level security talks on how to set standards of behavior for cybersecurity and commercial espionage, the first diplomatic effort to defuse the tensions over what the United States says is a daily barrage of computer break-ins and theft of corporate and government secrets.

“The talks will begin in July. Next Friday, President Obama and President Xi Jinping of China, who took office this spring, are scheduled to hold an unusual, informal summit meeting in Rancho Mirage, Calif., that could set the tone for their relationship and help them confront chronic tensions like the nuclear threat from North Korea.

“American officials say they do not expect the process to immediately yield a significant reduction in the daily intrusions from China.”

Microsoft CIO steps down

Geekwire reported that Tony Scott, who oversaw Microsoft’s internal IT operations for more than five years as the company’s CIO, has exited the position.

“Microsoft says Jim Dubois, its vice president of IT product and services management, will serve as interim CIO.

“Scott’s exit is notable in part because of the role played by Microsoft’s IT department as the first customer of the company’s business groups — rolling out new products for use and testing across the company, prior to public release, in a process commonly known as ‘dogfooding.’ That’s a critical function in addition to the fundamental role of IT in running, securing and maintaining Microsoft’s internal systems.”

Apple battles to finalise iRadio deals

The New York Times reported that Apple is pressing hard to complete deals with music publishers for its iRadio streaming service with a view to announcing the new service next week at the WWDC in San Francisco.

“Apple’s service, a Pandora-like feature that would tailor streams of music to each user’s taste, has been planned since at least last summer. But Apple has made little progress with record labels and music publishers, which have been seeking higher royalty rates and guaranteed minimum payments, according to these people, who spoke anonymously about the private talks.

While it is still at odds with some music companies over deal terms, Apple is said to be eager to get the licenses in time to unveil the service — nicknamed iRadio by the technology press — at its annual developers conference, which begins June 10 in San Francisco. “

Virtual currencies under greater scrutiny

The Wall Street Journal reported that virtual currencies like Bitcoin are attracting greater scrutiny from law enforcement agencies in the wake of the closure of the Liberty Reserve operation, which has been accused of abetting US$6bn worth of money laundering by criminals.

“In the past three months, the Treasury Department, prosecutors and now state regulators have taken aim at virtual-currency exchanges, telling them they must follow traditional rules aimed at thwarting money-laundering. The lightly regulated currencies have caught the attention of people who allegedly use some of them to mask profits from illegal activities.

“Companies using virtual currencies said they welcome the regulatory push because it helps legitimize the practice and build trust with users and investors. But new rules could also make the systems more cumbersome, taking away some advantages, currency experts say. Bitcoin can sometimes be cheaper to use than regular currencies, for instance, because there are fewer ‘transaction fees’ that can take a bite out of regular credit-card transactions.”

Haswell is here

Ars Technica reported on the much anticipated arrival of Intel’s Haswell microprocessors which could lead to a stepchange in the computing power in hybrid computer devices and eventually standalone tablet and smartphone devices.

“The biggest part of the fourth-generation Core launch is Haswell itself, the new CPU architecture that supersedes last year's Ivy Bridge (which was itself only a modification of 2011's Sandy Bridge). Haswell is a "tock" in Intel's overarching ‘tick-tock’ refresh strategy, meaning that it is a new architecture built on Intel's established 22nm 3D tri-gate manufacturing process. Next year's refresh, code-named Broadwell, will modify the Haswell architecture for manufacture on Intel's forthcoming 14nm process.”

Cyber war image via Shutterstock

San Francisco-headquartered Zynga employs 2,900 people worldwide in offices across the world. The company employs around 100 people in Dublin and it is not yet clear at the time of writing what the impact of the cuts will be there.

The cuts will save Zynga US$80m in payroll costs and the company aims to complete the layoffs by August.

Farmville creator Zynga embodied much of the fast growth shutzpah of Silicon Valley start-ups of the past five year but had a rocky IPO that only served to highlight weaknesses in its business model.

Despite the success of major game brands from Zynga on social media sites like Facebook and a loyal gamer audience, it could not ignore the reality that gaming is now a multi-screen experience, driven by the increased sophistication of smartphones and tablet devices, even TVs.

In a blog last night Pincus said the company needs to restructure and focus on being the leading social gaming service on mobile and multiplatform and not just on the web.

“Our opportunity is to make mobile gaming truly social by offering people new, fun ways to meet, play and connect. By reducing our cost structure today we will offer our teams the runway they need to take risks and develop these breakthrough new social experiences,” Pincus said.

He said that because the company is making the restructure happen from a position of financial strength it will be able to compensate the laid-off employees properly, promising generous severance packages.

Pincus said one thing that won’t change will be the company’s strategy of building popular franchises with large networks to support them.

“Running With Friends is a great example of the quality player experience we can deliver, already receiving an average 4.5 app star rating from 22,700 players in less than one month after launching. Our FarmVille franchise teams continue to innovate and deliver ground breaking new social experiences like County Fair which, despite only being available on the web, is engaging 39 million monthly players,” he said.

Monday, 3 June:

Datapulse Technology Ltd

Tuesday, 4 June:

Analogic Corp

Wednesday, 5 June:

Cyberonics Inc

Thursday, 6 June:

Rally Software Development Corp

Friday, 7 June:

Rentrak Corp

Financial markets image via Shutterstock

The clustering programme called ConsultingIreland will help Irish exporters tap into these emerging markets.

ConsultingIreland will deliver a nine-month training and mentoring programme for interested companies.

The programme will kick-off in September and applications from interested parties are welcome right now.

Global opportunities being missed

In the post-Celtic Tiger business landscape, countries such as Denmark are now winning 10 times the business Ireland achieves, warned Seamus McCann, chairman, ConsultingIreland.

“We are able to identify global business opportunities across all major sectors and mentor companies to address the market, to help close this significant gap on European partner countries.

“The objective of ConsultingIreland is to develop a strategy to regain the status and share of these ever-increasing market opportunities and help job creation for all sectors of the Irish economy. The development of these clusters must be a key part of our industrial strategy,” McCann said.

The clustering network will have both a national and international dimension and as part of this drive the first international agreement will be signed at the launch between ConsultingIreland and Alsace International, which is one of the most ‘internationally-active’ of the French regions. Further co-operation agreements will follow with other national and regional associations involved in international projects.

“This is a very welcome initiative that is all about encouraging business to look outwards in building links and co-operating with other companies on issues of mutual benefit,” said Julie Sinnamon, executive director in charge of Global Business Development at Enterprise Ireland.

“By engaging in collaborative activities, companies can ultimately improve their own productivity and expertise, and operate more effectively to win increasing business,” Sinnamon said.

The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook has ranked Ireland in third place for availability of skilled labour and first for flexibility and adaptability of its workforce, first for its attitudes to globalisation and first in terms of investment incentives.

Ireland also made significant improvements in areas including government finances, growth and inflation.

More than half the executives surveyed for the report identified a competitive tax regime, skilled workforce, business friendly environment, and high educational levels as key attractiveness factors in Ireland.

The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook is reputed as being the worldwide reference point on the competitiveness of nations and studies 60 nations on the basis of 300 criteria and is based on hard data, statistics and executive opinions.

Ireland’s foreign direct investment landscape

“Ireland’s increase from 20th to 17th in the overall rankings in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook is excellent news for Ireland’s foreign direct investment landscape,” said IDA Ireland CEO Barry O’Leary.

“Competition for foreign direct investment (FDI) remains strong and our ranking as third for the availability of skilled labour is very good news for Ireland as this is a key factor in attracting FDI.

“Ireland’s result in this survey shows that our country’s value proposition as a location for FDI continues to improve despite strong competition from other countries and on-going global economic challenges,” O’Leary said.

Operating costs were €153m for the quarter, down €7m from the prior year, a 4pc improvement.

EBITDA decreased by €15m on the prior year to €122m for the quarter, down 11pc on the same period in 2011.

The retail customer base, comprising fixed and mobile customers, stood at just more than 2m at the end of March and includes 1m mobile customers.

The total customer base, including wholesale customers, totalled 2.4m at the end of March.

In terms of broadband, Eircom reported a 1pc decrease in broadband subscribers to 455,000 retail customers. “Work continues at pace as we execute on our investment strategy to build a network for a nation that supports superfast fibre and mobile broadband for consumers and businesses,” Eircom CEO Herb Hribar said.

“Since the conclusion of the reporting period, we have successfully launched our fibre broadband network and eFibre, which offers customers broadband speeds of up to 70Mbps. The network is already available to more than 325,000 homes and businesses throughout the country and we are on track to pass 600,000 by the end of December 2013.”

He also said Eircom will be in a position to launch its 4G data services in September.

Eircom’s PSTN customer base fell to 940,000, a reduction of 24,000 customers in the quarter.

In the mobile segment, the group’s customers fell by 2pc in the quarter to 1,066,000 through the end of March 2013.

Mobile revenues continued to decline by 6pc for the quarter but mobile EBITDA grew by €5m, more than double compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.

“We have taken a number of recent steps to improve the capital structure of the group. We raised a €350m senior bond and reduced the group’s net debt while diversifying our funding sources,” CFO Richard Moat said.

“This was an important endorsement by the market that supports our strategy across both fixed and mobile platforms. We also sold Eircom PhoneWatch to Sector Alarm Corporation of Norway as it was no longer a core business activity.

“While revenues continue to decline, we are making progress to address the underlying fundamentals of the business,” Moat said.

Under the deal, JouleX’s energy management solution, together with Cisco EnergyWise, will provide customers with a way to measure, monitor and manage energy usage for network and IT systems across the enterprise, without the use of device-side agents, hardware metres or network configurations, Cisco said.

JouleX’s software helps cut energy costs by monitoring, analysing and managing the energy usage of all network-connected devices and systems through a set of policies derived through analytics tailored for an enterprise’s needs.

Cisco’s acquisition of JouleX is expected to close in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013, subject to customary closing conditions.

JouleX’s headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia.

Earlier this year, the IEDR had put a call out to Irish SMEs and micro-businesses to apply for the fund to help them boost their online presence.

Announcing the winners today, the IEDR said they include family-run businesses and emerging and established companies from the food, travel and tourism, media and publishing, retail and technology sectors.

Via the fund, these 20 companies will avail of a combined €150,000 worth of professional consultancy and support to help them develop their websites and learn more about e-commerce.

The winning companies were selected from more than 350 entries by an independent panel of judges.

They are:

• Food producer and retailer The Butler's Pantry
• Online news publisher Business World
• Kilowen Farm, the family-run producer of yogurts and dairy products
• Limerick photography company Press22
• Coffee roasting company Java Republic
• Organic farm and ecotourism destination Rock Farm Slane
• Wholesale Directory, a Limerick-based company to help Irish retailers connect online with wholesalers
• Galway-based Seavite Bodycare, creator of organic seaweed-based skincare
• Dublin retailer Viking Marine
• Colmac Robotics, a new start-up offering summer camps to teach kids about robotics
• Bicycle retailer Eurocycles
• Dublin clay pigeon shooting facility Courtlough Shooting Grounds
• PuddleDucks, Cork-based retailer of outdoor clothing for children
• TV production company Motive Television
• Travel agency Manasik Tours
• Dublin-based family garage Square Fit
• Anchor Safety, supplier of personal safety and protective equipment
• Tipperary company Air Impact, a wholesaler and distributor of air tools, air compressors and garage equipment
• Datascope, a Wexford-based newspaper and magazine printer
• Family-run retailer RA Kee & Sons

In the past week, Irish Government ministers have repeatedly denied that Apple received a special tax deal since setting up in Cork in 1980.

Ireland’s Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said in the past week that Ireland has a very clear tax code but pointed out that there were phases in the past where specific sectors, like manufacturing, may have paid 10pc corporate tax rather than the 12.5pc that is standard across the board for overseas companies that invest in Ireland.

Responding to questions from All Things D veteran writers Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, Cook said last night: “We don’t use tax gimmicks.”

He laid the whole issue of the repatriation of profits and where taxes go at the feet of successive US governments. “It’s a Band-Aid-and-paper-clip kind of thing. Over the years, Congress has kept Band-Aiding it.”

Cook said Apple pays US$6bn in US taxes, “more than anyone else.”

The Apple CEO also suggested a plan whereby Apple would pay even more but in exchange would repatriate all the cash it has offshore.

“We have no special deal with the Irish Government,” Cook said.

“I believe, based on the hearing that simplistically the thing that is being debated for a company like Apple or any other company that sells things cross the world and develops them in the US, (is that) some people believe that all the profits around the world should accrue to the US and be taxed here.

“The IRS (Internal Revenue Service) has no problem with a system that allows profits for money overseas to be taxed in other jurisdictions.”

Cook said that while he was happy Apple is part of the reform process, he was worried that decisions may be made that might not be logically thought through.

'Apple still has a grand vision for TV' – Tim Cook

While Cook was tight-lipped about new products on the way, he confirmed Apple will be rolling out the future of iOS and OSX at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in California next week.

On the question of the fabled television that may (or may not) one day come from Apple, Cook said more than 13m units of the existing Apple TV set-top device have been sold so far, half of them in the past year.

He said the current TV experience is not great and that TV continues to be an “area of great interest” to Apple.

Cook added that the existing TV model is outdated and the experience has not been brought up to the current decade.

“There is a very grand vision,” Cook said enigmatically.

The Apple CEO was also tight-lipped about wearable computers and rumours of a forthcoming Apple watch. He admitted he wears a Nike FuelBand but described Google Glass as unlikely to be a mass-market item.

Cook also predicted that the entire sensor field is going to explode. “With the arc of time it will become clearer.”

In terms of iOS and the forthcoming look and feel of the mobile operating system, Cook said that Apple’s senior vice-president of industrial design Jony Ive has been key to the forthcoming update and said that having him design both the software and the hardware is critical because there needs to be a blend of hardware, software and services.

Cook also noted that the technology giant sold 85m iPhone devices in the past quarter and more than 42m iPad devices.

Customer satisfaction numbers, he said, are off the chart and outpace its market share. “I look at that and say I feel pretty good.”

The analyst firm cites a shift in PC buying trends as consumers delay PC purchases or opt entirely instead for alternative devices, like standalone tablets or smartphones which suit their computing needs.

Instead of a limited decline of -1.3pc in 2013 followed by a gradual increase in volume, the new outlook calls for a more substantial decline of -7.8pc in 2013 and -1.2pc in 2014 with shipment volume reaching only 333m in 2017 – still below the 349m shipped in 2012 and a peak of more than 363m shipped in 2011.

“Many users are realising that everyday computing, such as accessing the web, connecting to social media, sending emails, as well as using a variety of apps, doesn't require a lot of computing power or local storage,” explained Loren Loverde, programme vice-president of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.

“Instead, they are putting a premium on access from a variety of smaller devices with longer battery life, an instant-on function, and intuitive touch-centric interfaces.

“These users have not necessarily given up on PCs as a platform for computing when a more robust environment is needed, but this takes a smaller share of computing time, and users are making do with older systems,” Loverde said.

Replacement cycle in PC industry drawn out

IDC expects to see some replacements happen in 2014, particularly in the commercial segment, as support for Windows XP expires.

However, the commercial market has been conservative with replacements, focusing on individual systems more than large upgrade projects. In addition, workers at many companies already have portable PCs with adequate configurations.

The motivation to buy a new system due to falling prices or to switch from a desktop to a portable PC is contributing less to market growth than it did in the past.

"In addition, the BYOD (bring your own device) phenomenon has moved from smartphones to tablets and PCs, with nearly 25pc of employees in organisations larger than 10 people claiming to have purchased the primary PC they use for work," said Bob O’Donnell, programme vice-president, Clients and Displays.

“This means that some of the corporate PC purchases we expected this year will no longer happen,” O’Donnell said.

Nearly half of EU citizens now go online to look for a job, use the public library, file a tax return, register a birth, apply for a passport or use other e-government services, The eGovernment Benchmark 2012 report revealed.

The report surveyed 28,000 internet users across 32 countries. Eighty per cent of survey respondents said online public services save them time, 76pc like the flexibility, and 62pc said it saves them money.

However, these users are more satisfied with online banking (8.5 satisfaction rating on a scale of 0 to 10), and online shopping (7.6) than with public services online (6.5).

Neelie Kroes, European Commission vice-president responsible for the Digital Agenda, said these are promising trends for e-government in Europe but “when users are more satisfied with online banking than online public services, it shows that public administrations must do better at designing e-government services around users’ needs. And we have to do more to make e-government work across borders.”

Areas for improvement

The report also signalled that improvements are needed to online services for important life events, such as losing or finding a job, setting up a company, and registering for educational courses/programmes.

The Digital Agenda for Europe is working on it. The agenda aims to increase the use of e-government services to 50pc of EU citizens by 2015.

EU citizens who now use e-government services and responded to the survey for the eGovernment Benchmark 2012 report also revealed the most popular e-government services: declaring income taxes (73pc of users declare taxes online), moving or changing address (57pc), and enrolling in higher education and/or applying for student grants (56pc).

Most (54pc) of survey respondents still prefer face-to-face contact or other traditional channels with which to access government services. However, 30pc of these respondents said they could also be regular e-government users - if more relevant services were provided.