Teknovis

I have a friend who is very sceptical of trademarks and patents, particularly in the context of the Internet. So I immediately thought about this friend when I read an article describing how a Russian businessman has successfully trademarked an emoticon in Russia :o

Luckily European users of emoticons do not need to panic (or start writing cheques) because this trademark will not be recognised here :D

More details about this can be read in Russian’s emoticon trade mark won’t wash with EU.

Tags: Emoticon, Trademark

Congratulations to TeminalFour for securing a deal to supply it CMS solution to Specsavers. This will be used to power the Specsavers websites in 10 counties around the world.

More details about this can be read in Should have gone to TerminalFour – Specsavers in pan-European CMS deal.

I am mentioning this here, because I know somebody who is very involved in TerminalFour. I am not going to make a habit of reposting every new deal secured :o

Tags: CMS, Specsavers, TerminalFour

I did all my online Christmas shopping this week. It went very well, and I must admit that I love the comfort of shopping in my own time from my own home. I am the sort of person that researches every purchase online, thinks about it some more, and eventually purchases. Visiting real shops with a list of things to buy is an experience that I try to avoid! Now I hope that all my presents arrive soon!

I bought lots of presents on Expansys, PhotoBox, and Play (which has the bonus of being VAT free). I also bought some presents on Asos, which was my first time to buy clothes online! I really like all of these websites because they price in euro even though they are not based in the eurozone.

It really annoys me when online retailers expect Irish customers to use the UK versions of their websites. Yes – we speak the same language, but we use a different currency! I think it is just pure laziness on their behalf!

Amazon is a perfect example of such an online retailer. It has a French website in euro, a German website in euro, and an English wesite in pounds :(

Amazon Ireland

Indeed, Amazon’s approach to the EU market is very limited.

Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try this year since the pound is so weak compared to the euro. I wanted to buy a small electronics device, and the price was really good. It was only when I went to buy the item that I realised that Amazon do not ship it outside of the UK :( I understand that this might be due to the fact that Amazon does not want to be responsible for collecting old electronic devices as required by the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive. So I abandoned shopping with Amazon :(

There seems to be plenty of other people who are unhappy with Amazon also according to Amazon behaving badly and Amazon UK withdraws John Duignan’s Scientology exposé “The Complex” from sale “for legal reasons”.

Finally, it appears that I am not the only person shopping online this week! According to “Busiest day” for online shopping last Monday was the busiest day in the year for online sales in the UK. The busiest hour was predicted to occur between 13:00 and 14:00 when £28 million worth of goods were to be sold. Some online retailers are predicting that this year will be their busiest year ever as more shoppers buy online. There is also an interesting video showing the inside of Amazon’s distribution centre.

Tags: Amazon, Asos, Expansys, France, Germany, Ireland, PhotoBox, Play, Tax, UK, WEEE

I read an intriguing article yesterday that suggested that adultery facilitating websites are seeing an increase in business at the moment! The article’s author suggests that this may be due to financial employees having too much time in their lives and not enough risk!

The complete article is Adultery website lures recession-hit balding bankers.

The EU is now officially in recession, and both the EU and the member states’ governments are trying to develop strategies to ensure that the economic downturn is as short as possible.

One of the main driving forces behind any economy is consumer spending, and it is interesting to see how different governments are trying to encourage consumer spending. For example, the British government has decided to reduce VAT from 17.5% to 15% in the beginning of December. Meanwhile, the Irish government has decided to increase VAT from 21% to 21.5% in the beginning of December also! More details can be found in Darling cuts VAT in pre-Budget measures.

Since VAT is calculated at the point of sale for transactions within the EU, these changes will mean that the difference in cost between buying in Ireland and the UK will become 6.5% based on the VAT alone. This is bad news for Irish businesses (and ultimately the government), but it is great for both British businesses and consumers!

I already do a significant amount of my shopping online in other EU member states, and I will try and do even more this Christmas. I am particularly fond of shopping on Spanish websites where the VAT is 16%, and I also purchase online quite regularly on a Luxembourgian website where the VAT is 15%. Now the websites in the UK will be getting more of my business!

If you are curious about the rates of VAT in the different EU member states then take a look at European Union Value Added Tax.

Tags: Ireland, Spain, Tax, UK

I learned today that this is Dublin City Enterprise Week. I never heard of this week before, but some of the events in the program look interesting.

Unfortunately, the event that interested me the most is fully booked :(

I was aware last February that Microsoft had made an offer for Yahoo, and that this offer was subsequently rejected because Yahoo felt it was too low.

I was not aware of the specifics of the offer, and I certainly was not aware of how it compares to the current market value of Yahoo. Then I came across the figures this afternoon…

Microsoft offered Yahoo approximately $31 per share, and this was rejected. Fast-forward to today, and Yahoo shares are trading at approximately $11 per share!

I am guessing that Microsoft must be feeling that it was very lucky, but I wonder if Yahoo is lamenting its decision!

Tags: Microsoft, Yahoo

Enterprise Ireland have listed some of the Irish Web 2.0 companies that are currently making headlines in Web 2.0 in Ireland. It is good to see this support!

I think that there are some very innovative Web 2.0 companies. However, I often feel that their innovation is based on an easily replicable novelty rather than on a solid technological differentiator which is difficult to replicate.

I think that one of the amazing things about Web 2.0 is that it can be used to describe any technology,  depending on the mood of the person using the phrase. I really love the way Web 2.0 is often used as a synonym for “cash cow” in business models. In fact, I see this happening a lot!

Tags: Enterprise Ireland, Ireland, Web 2.0

Amazon has announced the seven finalists in the Amazon Web Services Start-Up Challenge. The idea behind this competition is to encourage start-up companies that base their products on Amazon’s cloud computing infrastructure. The seven finalists are:

• Encoding.com
• Knewton
• MedCommons
• Sonian
• Pixily
• Yieldex
• Zephyr

The main prize for the eventual winner is $50,000 in cash, $50,000 worth of Amazon credits, and a potential investment from Amazon.

Tags: Amazon, Competition, Encoding.com, Knewton, MedCommons, Pixily, Sonian, Yieldex, Zephyr

I have just read the press release on the ChangingWorlds website that announces that it will be acquired by Amdocs for $60 million in cash! That is very nice, and the current owners must be delighted! Congratulations are in order!

As far as I recall, ChangingWorlds started as a UCD campus company, and they received substantial support from Enterprise Ireland.

It really is great to see that it is not all doom and gloom in the current economic downturn!

Tags: Amdocs, Campus Company, ChangingWorlds, Enterprise Ireland, UCD