Author Archive

Make (or encourage by vote rigging) Kieran wear his ice cream attire at the Awards

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

More here. Go on, we need more people to dress up in various attire.

O2 earnings – Data is good. Postpay customers paying a fortune.

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

O2 Ireland also today issued its KPIs for the Q4 period, from 1 October 2007 to 31 December 2007.

  • * Service revenue for the 3 months to 31 December 2007 was €231 million, an increase of 3.7% on the same period last year.
  • * O2 Ireland’s customer base at the end of December 2007 was 1.646 million, its highest level to date. Customer numbers were up 0.9% compared to the same period last
  • year, with 22,000 net new postpay customers added in the quarter.

  • * Monthly average blended ARPU for the quarter was €45.7, down from €47.0 in Q3, but up from €45.0 in the same period last year.
  • * For the quarter, monthly average ARPU for postpay customers was €78.8, down from €84.9 in Q3, and down from €81.4 compared to the same period last year.
  • * For the quarter, monthly average ARPU for prepay customers was €29, down slightly from €29.2 in Q3, and down from €29.6 compared to the same period last year.
  • * Average monthly minutes of use increased by 2.5% year on year to 252, up from 246 in the same period last year, and up 0.8% from 250 in Q3.
  • * 400 million text messages were sent during the three-month period representing a 1.8% increase in text usage up from 393 million in Q3.
  • * O2 Broadband continued to perform well in the quarter, with subscriber numbers to date now standing at 41,000.
  • * Data revenue as a percentage of overall service revenue was 27.9% in Q4, up from 26.5% in Q3, and up from 22.1% in the same period last year.

o2 confirmed launch of iPhone in Ireland – March 14th

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

And now to wait for the details…

You are cordially invited to attend a media briefing with O2 Ireland Chief Executive, Danuta Gray, to launch the Apple iPhone in Ireland, exclusively on the O2 network. Danuta Gray will also discuss O2 Ireland’s Q4 Financial Results issued today.

WHEN: 11.15am, Thursday 28th February, 2008
WHERE: O2 Ireland HQ, 28 – 29 Sir John Rogersons Quay, Dublin 2
WHAT: Launch of the Apple iPhone exclusively on O2 Ireland’s network

Update:
Thanks to Brian

Pricing:
€399 for 8GB
€499 for 16GB
(In the States these are in dollars, bit of a difference there)

Tariffs:
Monthly charge €45 €65 €100 Units
Anytime minutes included* 175 350 700 Mins
Texts included* 100 150 250 Texts
Data included** 1GB 1GB 1GB GB
Additional calls 20c 20c 20c Per min
Additional texts 10c 10c 10c Per texts
Voicemail*** 15c 15c 15c Per min

* Unused inclusive minutes and texts cannot be carried over to the following month
** Data use in excess of the 1GB allowance will be charged at 2c per MB excluding roaming
*** Visual voicemail is not currently supported.

All iPhone tariffs are subject to an 18 month agreement. It is a requirement that when purchasing iPhone that you pay your monthly bill by Bank Direct Debit or Credit Card Direct Debit.

To guarantee availability of iPhone, you can place a pre-order at any O2 Store between 28th February and 13th March. You will need to pay a deposit of €100, provide proof of identity and provide proof of residence.

Thoughts: No unlimited data. In fact even with the 100 quid a month package you still only get 1GB. Stingy! Pricing of handsets is too much when you can get them in the States for $399 and $499 dollars. Premium of 140%?

Further thoughts: If you have an unlocked iPhone you got say from the States or even from o2 could you put in an existing sim and add their 10Gb data package to it?

Fluffy Links – Thursday February 28th 2008

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

The finalists lists are out for the Blog Awards, bringing the high number of shortlisted for Best Blog, Best Photo Blog, Most Humourous Post and Best Blog Post down to a manageable number.

Events in and around the Awards.

Love Rob’s post on wrestling fans in Ireland wearing their masks in public.

Rick O’Shea (not his real name, real name is Robin Banks) now has a Facebook fan page.

Anyone willing to dog sit in Cork this weekend?

Arseblog was six yesterday. Have you seen their stats? Jesus. 750,000+ comments!

In case you missed it, this is how far Fine Gael apologists will go to defend the actions of their friends – threaten to sue and then deny it. Lacking testicular fortitude aren’t we?

Paul Walsh is taking applications from Irish CEOs and companies to come to his Top Cats event. Mix with the UK digerati.

Speaking of Paul, Jessi would rather not have been listening to him. 🙂

It’s easy to forget being handed 5 grand by a developer.

What crap.

Bodysong – Jonny Greenwood

Young Fine Gael in UL to issue statement on legal threats

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

Young Fine Gael in UL have told me they condemn the actions of those who harassed me and assured me the threat by a former member that Young Fine Gael in UL will sue me is untrue. I will post the statement here when it arrives.

Update: Also been chatting to the Students Union who are also waiting for this statement.

Statement from Young Fine Gael in UL:

As chairperson of ULYFG I would like to totally distance this society from the alleged harrassment of you. This has absolutely nothing to do with ULYFG and the three people which you named are not members ULYFG. We totally condem this abuse and I would again like to reiterate that ULYFG has nothing to do this matter. Also we have absolutely no intention threatening legal action either. I hope this clarifies the situation for you.

Yours Sincerly
Gillian Boyle.
Chairperson ULYFG.

UL Young Fine Gael now threatening me with legal action

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

Read more here.

Update: Young Fine Gael in UL have said that Eoin Brazil had no authority to make such legal threats on their behalf.

o2 Ireland is getting the iPhone. Will it be announced tomorrow?

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

Updated 2: Full details of iPhone in Ireland

Updated: “You are cordially invited to attend a media briefing with O2 Ireland Chief Executive, Danuta Gray, to launch the Apple iPhone in Ireland”. iPhone launching.

Just speculating. Two things.

First this press invite:

You are cordially invited to attend a media briefing with O2 Ireland Chief Executive, Danuta Gray, for the presentation of the company’s Q4 Financial Results, at 11.15am on Thursday 28th February, 2008, in O2 Ireland Headquarters, Sir John Rogersons Quay, Dublin 2.

Second. Via the Daithster:

Macworld reports that the most recent iPhone software update includes code for an Irish network (it is, of course, O2).

It’s going to be announced. It’s all about the when now.

iPhone for me, iPhone for you, and some one else too
Photo owned by Mountain/\Ash (cc)

Fluffy Links – Wednesday February 27th 2008

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

Funniest Blog Award post this week. Go beat it.

Auto-email new people that leave comments on your blog. Couldn’t you create a linkbait post to get lots of comments and then spam people?

Eoin Kennedy from Slattery Communications restarted blogging. We need more PR people blogging. C’mon folks.

I woke up for a dream with the phrase “Boss Volenti”. When I googled them I found this band. Odd.

Seriously. What Greenpeace did was an act of terrorism. How come they weren’t shot in the head?

The video reply to Fucking Matt Damon – Fucking Ben Affleck with an all-star hollywood cast.

Think of the song Gold by Spandau Ballet. Here we go.

Check out this Joe Dolan inspired planning application.

Cathay Pacific Very Low Flyby of 777-300ER

The pilot got fired for this? Tom Cruise should have an intervention.

Via Andrew, earthquakes in England and now this. One drawback to wind turbines.

Parlon’s construction crowd are now giving out about broadband

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

That’s cut 131, a few more to the 1000 mark:

Speaking in advance of ‘Construct IT Conference 2008’, Noelle O’Connell, Head of Training and Development at the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), stated that the unreliability of broadband services threatened to hold back IT innovations in the construction sector.

“ However, in the area of IT problems around the availability of reliable, high speed broadband services, particularly in certain parts of the country, continue to frustrate innovations.”

“This is a very straightforward example of the inefficiencies arising from broadband problems, yet it illustrates the sort of issues facing the sector.”

“Moving the tender process online is another innovation that is not possible without first class broadband infrastructure, particularly given the level of detail and technical supporting documentation associated with tenders for even the smallest projects. The same is true in other areas of construction.”

“Not every company experiences problems with broadband services. There are parts of the country, particularly larger urban areas, where a reliable service is available. However, a feature of the construction industry is its spread throughout every part of the country and it is impossible to introduce industry-wide initiatives and innovations if all the industry cannot avail of them”.

The Construct IT Conference 2008 looks at all aspects of IT and the construction industry and one of the speakers, Tom Parlon, Director General of the CIF, will point out that by embracing IT companies can make significant savings and improve efficiencies. Microsoft, the Data Protection Commissioner, 02, MoreSoft IT Group, Domus Newtworks and Google will also be represented.

Source: Direct press release.

One day the clues will come Gerry, one day

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

Gerry McGovern says fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and foodstuff businesses, for example, are less likely to benefit from having a blog. “If you’re chicken-farming in Monaghan, I don’t think there’s much point in having a blog, because your customers probably won’t be interested in what you have to say.”

Nobody would ever read a bog about a tailor. Nobody would ever read a blog about vineyards.