A roundup of today's other business news in brief
Irish left to wait for first bite of new Apple iPad
The Apple iPad will be available to buy from early April in the US but no release date has yet been given for Ireland.
The device is a tablet-style computer which bridges the gap between mobile phone and laptop. Just 1.27cm thick and weighing 680g, it has a screen that measures 24.6cm across the diagonal. This makes it lighter and thinner than any PC on the market.
Apple said the iPad will go on sale in the US on April 3rd and be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK later that same month, starting at $499 (€366) for the 16GB model.
Car problem fixed, insists Toyota
Toyota has said it had found “no evidence of a failure” of the electronic throttle control systems in its vehicles or the repairs made to them during the recall.
Henry Waxman, chairman of one of the two US congressional committees investigating Toyota, wrote to Jim Lentz, its US sales boss, asking the Japanese carmaker to back up its claim that electronic defects had nothing to do with its cars’ acceleration problems.
US safety officials said this week that they had received more than 60 complaints from Toyota customers, who said they were still experiencing unintended acceleration even though their cars had been repaired by dealers. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)
TV production firm makes less of a mint
Mint Productions, the documentary production company owned by Prime Timepresenter Miriam O'Callaghan and her husband, RTÉ director of programmes Steve Carson, retained a profit of €101,000 in the year to December 11th, 2009, according to abridged accounts just filed at the Companies Office.
This was down on the profit of €116,000 retained by Mint in 2008.
The company's productions include the Irish version of celebrity genealogy programme Who Do You Think You Are?
It was reported late last year that Mint was being wound up following Mr Carson’s RTÉ appointment.
Job changes announced at Eircom
Meteor’s operational merger within Eircom has moved forward, with a number of organisational changes at the group.
Larry Smith, Meteor’s chief executive, will leave the group to return to the US, having spent more than five years in the Republic.
Stephen Beynon has meanwhile been appointed group managing director of consumer and small business with Eircom.
Gerry Culligan will be responsible for Phonewatch and 11811, Eircom’s directory enquiries business, as well as heading a “transition unit” at the group.
Eircom was taken over earlier this year by Singapore’s STT.
