Inside View from Ireland

Consumer VoIP

KILKENNY -- Internet voice phones from Avaya and Cisco are now joined by products from SIPphone and Skype, since home broadband usage is only going up.

You can buy a pair of SIP phones for less than €100 and then make free broadband calls to other SIPphones. SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol. SIP provides call-forwarding and a form of Instant Messaging because each SIP has a unique identity. SIP addresses can be embedded into Web pages for click-to-talk services.

Irish Spar Generation

DAVID McWILLIAMS -- I remember visiting the Spar in Ranelagh at 2 AM one Saturday morning, totally awed by the idea that you could shop after midnight in Ireland. David McWilliams thinks "the growth of Spar and Centra has been one of the most interesting phenomena in Irish life over the past ten years. The way we shop reveals a lot about who we are, how and where we live and what type of lifestyle most of us enjoy. Nothing so accurately reflects Irish people's changing daily experience as the shops on our main streets.

What we buy and when we buy it sheds light on what and when we eat and with whom. It tells us about the state of the Irish family and the state of the workforce."

Intelligent call-routing

KILKENNY -- When I actively used both O2 and a Vodafone accounts, I got treated differently. Vodafone was more likely to offer me better deals with rates and trial services. Perhaps I was identified by Vodafone as a better customer.

Gagging Ireland

KILKENNY -- The Irish press has done nothing to deserve becoming the first in Europe directly supervised by government. The clock is counting down on a formal government decision to set up a statutory press council. Michael McDowell, the justice minister, has set the consultation period to expire on 31 December. If McDowell recommends a statutory press council, Ireland's Fourth Estate will be further curtailed. It will put Ireland into the same camp as Zimbabwe, another country using this form of control.

Quick Facts from Irwin Stelzer

YOU CAN STAY abreast developments in the business world by reading the numbers in any "American Account" by Irwin Stelzer.

• Wal-Mart's purchases account for some 10% of America's trade deficit with China, which manufacturers and trade unions complain is costing American worker their jobs.
• The Internet is making an impact on consumer markets. ComScore Networks estimates that in one month alone 34m consumers bought clothes worth more than $500m through websites, up 44% on the previous year.
• Barry Diller's InterActive, which incluides Expedia, HSN, and Ticketmaster, expect revenues to rise by 34% in 2003 to $6.2 bn.
• Shopping malls must include places to socialise. These free entertainment zones attract teens with pocket money into the surrounding shops.
• Beckham has carved out a strong buying public called the "metrosexual male" that is as potent a consumer as those Karlin Lillington profiled with the pink pound in their pockets.

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Irwin Stelzer -- "Retailers are the unsung heroes of the recovery" in The Sunday Times, 19 Oct 03

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Expensive Irish phone charges

I HAVE USED A SpeakEasy pay-as-you go account for nine weeks, averaging €17 a week in charges. When I had my monthly contract, I averaged €28 a week during the first year. The difference is in the monitoring. I know how much remains on my SpeakEasy account and I simply do not pay more than €20 a week. I wish I had the same discipline with a post-paid account because it's less expensive when using a contract SIM for Internet access.

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Glass Art Ireland

GLASS ART IRELAND -- It's been decades since I cut my last piece of stained glass and my work was never as creative as Irish glass artists. Irish homeowners are going for glass in worktops, walls, stairs and screens. The Kilkenny Castleyard is the venue for several glass art exhibitions every year, including award-winners from England during the Spring 2004 season.

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