it
March 05, 2010, 09:44 CET
Hungarian IT industry struggles from "overcentralized" market
Among Hungarian IT firms, a full 60% are located in Budapest, while the remaining companies suffer from the overcentralization of activity in the capital, piacesprofit.hu writes. Several large companies located in the countryside have been forced to open expensive branch... [read complete entry]
March 04, 2010, 03:13 CET
New governmental portal costing billions taken offline after a few hours
Hungary's online public administration service Ügyfélkapu ("Client Gateway", which currently has 850,000 registered users) returned to its old version after a brand-spanking new version launched on March 1 experienced many errors following its launch. According to hirextra.hu, no date has... [read complete entry]
March 02, 2010, 09:57 CET
Tax office APEH gets new technology to target tax cheats
National tax office APEH will be able to find signs of tax evasion - such as fictitious companies and fictitious invoices - easier in the future, thanks to some advanced IT solutions it has just adopted, writes napi.hu. In part... [read complete entry]
February 18, 2010, 10:30 CET
Hungary broadband ADSL, cable subscription number rises 230,000 in 2009
The number of broadband ADSL and cable subscriptions rose 230,000 or 15pc in Hungary in 2009, the National Communications Authority (NHH) said on Wednesday. The number of broadband ADSL and cable subscriptions grew 25,000 in December, totalling 1.742m at the... [read complete entry]
February 18, 2010, 10:26 CET
Hungary active mobile subscription number grows 19,000 in January
The number of active mobile subscriptions in Hungary grew 19,000 to 10.95m and the total number of mobile phone subscriptions rose 42,000 to 11.834m in January, the National Communications Authority (NHH) reported on Wednesday. The number of mobile phone subscriptions... [read complete entry]
February 05, 2010, 10:49 CET
Hungarian IT firm Key-Soft to enter market for e-invoices
Hungarian IT company Key-Soft has added a module handling electronic invoices to its market-leading KULCS-KESZLET inventory management and invoicing and KULCS-SZAMLA programmes, therefore, the programme can now be used to prepare electronic invoices, the company said on the Budapest Stock... [read complete entry]
February 05, 2010, 09:57 CET
Hungarian IT market seen recovering in second half of 2010
Hungary's IT market will recover in the second half of 2010, Getronics Magyarorszag CEO Peter Ratkai announced The incumbent government will not call new tenders and the next government will need time to compile its projects, therefore an upturn should... [read complete entry]
February 03, 2010, 10:24 CET
CAS Software opens iPhone app development center in Hungary
Germany's CAS Software has opened a development centre in the Hungarian city of Szeged for Apple iPhone and iPod applications, R+D director Ludwig Neer said on Tuesday. CAS Software picked the city because it offers the best IT training in... [read complete entry]
December 15, 2009, 08:29 CET
Hungarian IT market shrank 20-25% in 2009, CEO of HP says
The overall IT market in Hungary shrank 20-25% on average this year, HP Magyarország Kft CEO Gábor Hegedüs told vg.hu. The impact of the recession was hardest on hardware distributors. The company's PC department sold the same number of machines... [read complete entry]
December 07, 2009, 09:29 CET
Internal investigation at Magyar Telekom pinpoints €31 million in fraud
Magyar Telekom's audit committee has wound up its four-year internal investigation into contracts signed by the company's Montenegrin and Macedonian units in the middle of the decade. The company hired White & Case as independent legal counsel to carry out... [read complete entry]
December 04, 2009, 12:26 CET
Survey finds telecommuting in Hungary far below EU average
Telecommuting jobs account for 4.5-5pc of all jobs in Hungary, a proportion just one-third of the European Union average, state secretary at the Ministry of Social and Labour Affairs Gabor Simon said on Thursday. About HUF 3bn in funding has... [read complete entry]
November 26, 2009, 09:20 CET
Mobile internet subscriptions in Hungary top 800,000
The number of mobile internet subscribers rose by 36,000 in October and had reached 803,000 by the end of the first ten months, the National Communications Authority (NHH) announced yesterday. Users of the three mobile phone subscribers generated total traffic... [read complete entry]
November 20, 2009, 10:35 CET
Competition Office fines Pannon and Vodafone for unfair practices
The Competition Office (GVH) has fined mobile-phone operators Pannon Ft 15 million and Vodafone Ft 10 million for unfair business practices. The GVH found that both Vodafone and Pannon limited download speed for clients who had signed up for unlimited... [read complete entry]
November 19, 2009, 08:45 CET
Losses widen at Hungarian online retailer Bookline.hu
Hungarian online book company Bookline.hu sustained after-tax losses of HUF 178m (EUR 671,918) in the first three quarters of 2009, compared to after-tax losses of HUF 134m in Q1-Q3 of 2008 as expenses related to financial transactions more than tripled... [read complete entry]
November 17, 2009, 08:19 CET
System for electronic payments to state slated for March completion
A system allowing payments to state bodies via netcards, VPOS, Internet bank and mobile banks is to be finished by the end of March 2010, writes napi.hu (subscriber only). In the initial phases of the Electronic Civil Service Operative Program... [read complete entry]
November 16, 2009, 07:45 CET
Vodafone Hungary sees 5.5% Q3 revenue drop as overall market dives further
Revenue of the Hungarian unit of UK mobile service provider Vodafone fell 5.5pc in Q3, while revenue of the mobile services market as a whole slipped 6pc, showing cost cuts and improved efficiency, the unit's CEO Gyorgy Beck told MTI.... [read complete entry]
November 06, 2009, 10:33 CET
Magyar Telekom CEO says firm to become leader in pay TV market
Hungarian telecom company Magyar Telekom plans to become a leader in Hungary's pay television market within five years, Chairman and CEO Christopher Mattheisen said on Thursday, Dow Jones reported. Magyar Telekom currently has a market share of 22pc-23pc, which expanded... [read complete entry]
November 05, 2009, 09:57 CET
HP says Hungary's IT hardware market down 30% in first nine months of '09
While Hungary's hardware market shrank around 30pc in the first nine months of this year, demand for IT services fell only slightly or stagnated, Hewlett Packard Hungary CEO Gabor Hegedus said on Wednesday. Mr Hegedus said there is great uncertainty... [read complete entry]
November 03, 2009, 09:19 CET
Study confirms Hungary's continuing domination of regional biotech sector
Hungary continues dominates the biotechnology sector in the region, writes napi.hu, based on a survey by EuropaBio and Venture Valuation. The survey was conducted in the twelve countries that recently joined the European Union, plus Turkey and Croatia. The survey... [read complete entry]
October 27, 2009, 08:53 CET
Windows 7 upgrades now available for purchase in Hungary. Hahahaha.
Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7, was officially launched in Hungary on October 22, writes itcafe.hu. The public premiere of the successor to the much-maligned "Vista" OS will be held at the "Budapest Game Show" at Papp László Sports Arena... [read complete entry]
October 22, 2009, 10:18 CET
Hungarian IT firm AITIA ranks high on Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 list
Hungarian IT company AITIA International Informatics is ranked among the top ten companies on consultancy Deloitte's latest list of the fastest-growing technology companies in Central Europe, the list shows. AITIA is active in R+D based on artificial intelligence, applied developments... [read complete entry]
September 22, 2009, 08:43 CET
New entry in Hungary's emerging Internet Protocol Television market
Interware Internet Szolgáltató Zrt will be the fourth Hungarian company in the Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) market, reports vg.hu. The service will include over 80 channels - five of which are HD - and will be provided on Magyar Telekom's... [read complete entry]
August 13, 2009, 09:52 CET
Hungary's broadband cable, ADSL subscriptions up 12% in year to June
The number of broadband cable and ADSL internet subscriptions rose by 176,000 to 1,623,000 in the twelve months to the end of June, telecommunications regulator NHH said on Wednesday. The number of subscriptions rose by 23,000 from the end of... [read complete entry]
July 22, 2009, 10:10 CET
Half of Hungarians now regular internet users
Half of Hungarian adults use the internet at least once a month, a survey prepared by the GfK group in seventeen Central and Eastern European countries in May shows. The number of internet users in Hungary grew by 11 percentage... [read complete entry]
July 15, 2009, 08:05 CET
Fujitsu says notebook PC sales in Hungary to plunge in second half of '09
Fujitsu Technology Solutions' sales of notebooks and netbooks in Hungary could fall as much as 30pc in the second half of the year, managing director Gabor Poros said at a press conference on Tuesday. It is a serious struggle even... [read complete entry]
July 03, 2009, 10:19 CET
Chris Houghton named CEO of Ericsson Hungary
Chris Houghton will take over as CEO of the Hungarian unit of wireless communications equipment maker Ericsson from August, Ericsson Magyarorszag told MTI. Mr Houghton, who is currently deputy-CEO of Ericsson Japan, will replace Gabor Ery, who headed the unit... [read complete entry]
July 02, 2009, 04:40 CET
Hungary "logs in" to rare successful tech IPO
With good news hard to come by these days in Hungary and the world of venture-capital backed tech startups, it's a nice surprise to find something positive involving both. The good news came late yesterday afternoon Budapest time, when shares... [read complete entry]
June 19, 2009, 11:03 CET
Microsoft Hungary aims to raise market share above 75% amid slump in PC sales
Microsoft Magyarorszag aims to raise its share on Hungary's PC operating system market by two percentage points from 74-76pc in its business year ending June 30, marketing director Gyula Sarusi said at a press conference in Budapest on Thursday. Hungary's... [read complete entry]
May 22, 2009, 11:39 CET
We were only kidding when we said we didn't like working for western multinationals!
You don't need to commission a survey to know that western multinational firms are unpopular in Hungary. Despite the many thousands of jobs such firms have created in Hungary over the past two decades - many or most of which... [read complete entry]
May 04, 2009, 11:16 CET
Hungarian SMEs defer IT investment in face of crisis
About 64pc of Hungarian SMEs plan no IT investments in 2009 because of falling revenue due to the economic crisis, a survey commissioned by computer magazine publisher IDG and IT equipment maker D-Link shows.... [read complete entry]
April 29, 2009, 10:42 CET
Trade in Illegal software balloons in Hungary as economic crisis bites
Illegal software trade is on a dramatic rise in Hungary due to the economic crisis, the business daily Napi Gazdasag wrote on Wednesday.... [read complete entry]
April 27, 2009, 07:10 CET
Invitel first firm to move into big new Budapest server park
Telco Invitel has become the first company to move into the recently completed HUF 1.5bn Dataneum, Hungary's second-biggest server park.... [read complete entry]
April 03, 2009, 10:45 CET
Ministry gives green light for use of open source software in public sector
The use of open source software and connected services has been given the green light for the public sector, public education and higher education institutions, the deputy minister in charge of information technology and communications said on Thursday.... [read complete entry]
February 09, 2009, 12:10 CET
Big IT tender for schools fails as HP, IBM bids declared invalid
A Ft 23 billion government tender for the supply of IT equipment, including digital blackboards, for schools has been declared unsuccessful, as both bids were invalid.... [read complete entry]
February 09, 2009, 09:34 CET
Malfunction at "e-government" portal causes release of taxpayers' data
Visitors to a government website may have seen data on other taxpayers instead of their own, due to a malfunction of the so-called "clients' gate" site on Saturday.... [read complete entry]
February 04, 2009, 08:55 CET
HP Hungary sees strong 2008 sales despite slide in computer market
The Hungarian unit of American IT giant HP sold 110,000 computers in 2008, 30pc more than in 2007, and revenue, calculated in dollars, rose about the same, HP Magyarorszag deputy-CEO Kristof Takats said on Tuesday.... [read complete entry]
January 22, 2009, 08:46 CET
Boom in personal computer sales ends in Hungary
The sales of PCs and notebooks dropped in Hungary in the last quarter of 2008, after many years of increase, the economic daily Vilaggazdasag said on Wednesday.... [read complete entry]
January 16, 2009, 09:02 CET
Synergon signs HUF 700m contracts with T-Kabel
IT company Synergon Informatika signed three contracts together worth almost HUF 700m with T-Kabel, the cable television unit of Magyar Telekom, in December, Synergon said on Thursday.... [read complete entry]
December 29, 2008, 10:46 CET
Toshiba sees growth in Hungarian laptop market as labor mobility increases
Laptop sales in Hungary will grow by 10% in 2009, according to Szabolcs Patonai, sales director of the Hungarian subsidiary.... [read complete entry]
December 02, 2008, 07:41 CET
Leading Hungarian computer retailer Notebook.hu in hasty liquidation
One of Hungary's largest computer retailers, Notebook.hu, is currently being wound up, reports Index.hu. The information was confirmed by Dr. Gyula Sóvágó, liquidator at PK-ECONO Financial Economic Consulting Kft.... [read complete entry]
October 30, 2008, 10:50 CET
Hungarian companies undeterred by spam laws
Compared to the misspelled messes that arrive in our e-mail inboxes in English, Hungarian spam is positively professional, and the products and services on offer are a far cry from the usual assortment of pharmaceuticals and Nigerian scams. This is... [read complete entry]
October 30, 2008, 08:35 CET
Hungary's competition office drops case against Microsoft
Hungary's Competition Office (GVH) on Wednesday said it dropped a procedure against Microsoft Magyarorszag for giving software distributors incentives to offer its own products.... [read complete entry]
October 17, 2008, 09:10 CET
Hungarian companies perform well in Deloitte "Fast 50" contest
Fourteen Hungarian firms are among the members of the latest "Fast 50" technology firm rankings compiled by Deloitte, writes itcafe.hu, with Hungary having more firms represented than any other country in the region, and two companies in the top 10.... [read complete entry]
September 17, 2008, 10:01 CET
Hungary leads region in IT competitiveness, BSA survey finds
Hungary's IT competitiveness ranks slightly ahead of most countries in the central and eastern European region, according to a global survey by Business Software Alliance (BSA) published on Tuesday.... [read complete entry]
September 16, 2008, 08:56 CET
Private IT and bioinformatics university to open in Budapest in 2010
A new private university for IT and bioinformatics studies is planned to start operations in Budapest in 2010 under an agreement signed by Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky and Gabor Bojar, founder of architecture software company Graphisoft, on Monday.... [read complete entry]
September 05, 2008, 01:17 CET
US-based software maker LogMeIn opens R+D center in Szeged
Hungary's LogMeIn, which makes remote access and desktop control software, has opened an R+D centre in Szeged (SE Hungary), where it aims to cooperate with the local university, CEO Stephen Duzs told MTI.... [read complete entry]
September 02, 2008, 12:17 CET
Budapest court rules in favor of Microsoft
The Budapest Municipality Court yesterday rejected the objections to a government public procurement IT tender in a first-instance ruling.... [read complete entry]
August 25, 2008, 04:00 CET
Hungary, Israel plan to conclude R+D agreement, ambassador says
Hungary and Israel are planning to conclude a research and development agreement, which could be signed early next year, the Israeli Ambassador to Hungary told MTI in Budapest on Monday. The agreement will encourage Hungarian and Israeli businesses, particularly IT... [read complete entry]
August 22, 2008, 07:47 CET
Magyar Telekom to launch major re-branding in September
Magyar Telekom will launch its new T-Home brand on September 8, replacing the brands T-Com, T-Online and T-Kábel, it was announced yesterday. The internet brand T-Online is to be renewed.... [read complete entry]
August 14, 2008, 08:28 CET
Laptops twice as popular as desktop PCs in Hungary
Hungarians bought nearly twice as many laptops as desktop computers in the first half of 2008 compared to the same period a year earlier, business daily Vilaggazdasag reported on Wednesday, citing figures compiled by market research company IDC.... [read complete entry]
August 08, 2008, 09:24 CET
Sun Microsystems Hungary beats other regional units
IT company Sun Microsystems' profit and revenue in Hungary rose at a slightly faster pace than in the region as a whole in its business year ended June 30, the company said.... [read complete entry]
August 07, 2008, 07:55 CET
Magyar Telekom profits leap as layoffs begin to pay off
Magyar Telekom's first-half net profit jumped 57pc to HUF 53.7bn as layoffs began to pay off and a decision by Hungary's telco regulator allowed the company to free up provisions, Magyar Telekom said in its consolidated IFRS report for the... [read complete entry]
August 05, 2008, 08:30 CET
Government cutting back on scheme to spread Internet use
The Hungarian government is cutting back a program launched in 2004 to help spread Internet access to small settlements, writes Fn.hu, based on a report in daily Magyar Nemzet.... [read complete entry]
July 17, 2008, 01:52 CET
IT media guru Sándor Mester joins Axel Springer
The Hungarian media professional shall now be offering his services to the German media group. [read complete entry]
July 09, 2008, 08:57 CET
Vodafone Hungary launches ad service aimed at mobile users
The Hungarian unit of international mobile telecom giant Vodafone yesterday announced the launch of a system which will allow local subscribers to be targeted with text-based and other advertisements, reports napi.hu.... [read complete entry]
April 18, 2008, 12:01 CET
More red ink for Hungary's struggling print media
Hungary's print media fell on more hard times in 2007 as copy sales again fell compared to the previous year. [read complete entry]
April 18, 2008, 10:04 CET
Hungary's parties appear set to drop "internet tax" proposal
Seeing how unpopular it is, Hungary's political parties are backtracking from a proposed tax on internet usage. [read complete entry]
April 14, 2008, 09:50 CET
Cable alliance protests internet, digital tax proposal
Organizations representing Hungary's cable TV companies and ISPs are protesting government plans for a new "digital" tax. [read complete entry]
April 01, 2008, 03:24 CET
Hungarian companies stepping up employee surveillance
Hungarian companies are stepping up surveillance on employees' Internet use, but still lag behind the international curve. [read complete entry]
March 31, 2008, 09:40 CET
Hungarian government extends Microsoft contract
Hungary's Economy Ministry extended a licence program with Microsoft Magyarország, while also supporting the use of open-source software. [read complete entry]
March 07, 2008, 10:10 CET
Survey puts Hungary ahead of India as IT outsourcing destination
A survey by Pierre Audoin Consultants put Hungary ahead of India as a top location for outsourced IT support services. [read complete entry]
March 04, 2008, 01:00 CET
Survey finds Hungarians still shy of online shopping
Hungarians still prefer shopping in stores as opposed to online, a new survey finds. [read complete entry]
February 11, 2008, 07:34 CET
Launch of program to get Hungary "ready for the net"
A new government program to help Hungarian companies "get ready for the Internet" began operating this past week. [read complete entry]
February 06, 2008, 11:15 CET
NGOs turn to illegal spam to solicit for income tax donations
Running on low budgets and desperate for hand-outs, non-governmental organizations have been increasingly resorting to unsolicited e-mails to persuade taxpayers to give away 1% of their income tax as a donation, Menezsdment Fórum reports.... [read complete entry]
February 05, 2008, 11:45 CET
Electronic tax returns made easier in Hungary
With electronic tax returns having already become a way of life in Hungary, the country's tax authority (APEH) is planning to add more features this year to make online tax declarations easier and faster for both businesses and individuals. APEH... [read complete entry]
February 05, 2008, 10:44 CET
Some glitches at Hungary's "Client-gate", but no scandal
After two years of operation, Hungary's so-called "Client Gateway" (Ügyfélkapu) portal has become an increasingly convenient and familiar way for individuals to interact with the Hungarian state online, despite what some users say are serious shortcomings. According to a recent... [read complete entry]
December 11, 2007, 09:51 CET
New Hungarian Economy Minister promises reform in "small steps"
New Economy Minister Csaba Kákosy said he favored small but sure steps over overblown promises to combat Hungary's sluggish growth. [read complete entry]