SOFTWARE

Sealed Windows

Nokia and Microsoft seal Windows Phone alliance by batteryfast

Nokia and Microsoft have signed a definitive agreement that will govern how they produce smartphones together, just over two months after the partnership was announced.

In February, the companies said they had struck a deal for Nokia to produce Windows Phones with a higher degree of customisation than is available to other manufacturers using Microsoft's mobile operating system (Dell inspiron 1525 Batteries). The Finnish firm will also phase out its Symbian OS and scale back its ambitions for MeeGo, the Linux-based OS it has developed alongside Intel.

On Thursday, Nokia and Microsoft said they had managed to finalise and sign their pact ahead of schedule, after 10 weeks of negotiation and discussions. They also provided more details about the partnership, saying Nokia will build a Nokia-branded app store using the Windows Marketplace infrastructure.

"At the highest level, we have entered into a win-win partnership," Nokia chief Stephen Elop said in a joint statement from the partners. Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer said the partnership will mean "Nokia and Microsoft will innovate with greater speed".

At the highest level, we have entered into a win-win partnership.

– Stephen Elop, Nokia

The companies said they have made "significant progress" on the first Nokia Windows Phones, and that Nokia has begun porting "key applications and services" to the Windows Phone platform.

In a blog post, Microsoft and Nokia executives said that the companies have aligned their staff and resources to work on Nokia devices built on Windows Phone.

"Hundreds of our team members are already working together toward a multi-year product roadmap and are on schedule to deliver volume shipments in 2012, although the pressure is on for first delivery in 2011," Nokia's chief development officer Kai Oistamo and Microsoft's mobile communications business president Andy Lees wrote in the blog post.

Oistamo and Lees added that the partners want to market the collaboratively developed phones in "new geographies, at new price points".

According to the companies, Windows Phone developer registration will be free for all Nokia developers, and those involved in the Windows Phone ecosystem will be able to take advantage of Nokia's extensive billing agreements with operators around the world.

Financial agreement

They also reiterated details of the financial agreement, such as the fact that Microsoft will pay Nokia billions of dollars as part of the deal (Panasonic vw-vbg260 batteries), and Nokia will pay Microsoft a "running royalty" for the use of the Windows Phone platform — but only once the resulting handsets ship.

The deal recognises the value of intellectual property and puts in place mechanisms for exchanging rights to intellectual property, Nokia and Microsoft noted.

"You can expect an increased focus on mobile business and productivity scenarios that build on Microsoft's cloud services, new features for Symbian, and new capabilities for Windows Phone devices," Oistamo and Lees said.

Nokia first-quarter results

Also on Thursday, Nokia released its results for its first quarter. They showed a rise in sales in the same period in 2010, but a significant drop since the last quarter of that year — a standard occurrence in an industry that sells heavily in the lead-up to the holiday season.

However, it was not just device sales that fell — Nokia Siemens Networks, the company's telecoms infrastructure arm, also saw a 20-percent drop in sales since the fourth quarter of 2010.

Profits were down both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, except for the Navteq division, where there was a 32-percent profit increase compared with the first quarter of 2010.

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Flexible air duct through a sealed window?

I am interested in a buying a town home but the neighboring unit has something looks like a flexible air duct (about 6-8 inch in diameter) coming through a sealed bedroom window (sealed with white plastic). The duct opening drops right above the driveway of the town home I am interested in. What could that air duct be for? Thanks for your help.
Each unit has a laundry room. And the current weather is cool and rainy (SF Bay Area).

You didn't say anything about the climate your live in.
Does it get hot there ?
Maybe it's an exhaust hose for a portable air conditioner (used during the summers).

Does each condo have their own washer and dryer hook-ups ?
If not, maybe the occupant of the neighboring condo has a cloths dryer vented through the window because they like doing laundry "privately" in their own place instead of using a common machine with the rest of the condo owners.

My final guess is maybe they do some sort of arts and craft that releases smoke or fumes so they exhaust it out the window with a fan (soldering, model makers plastic cement, oil painting, wood burning art etc).

Alpine System - 12'' Type-R Sealed Box Window Shake