Analysis - The Nokia Microsoft Deal

Nokia was a great hardware company (and may still be).  Having used several generations of Nokia phones, I know their reputation for solid hardware is deserved.   Their software is another story.  They simply don't have the Apple mystique nor do they have reach of Microsoft.  In the business space,  Microsoft still has a solid place and  Blackberry does their thing with corporate email and push methods.   Nokia's killer app is SMS.  In many poorer countries,  SMS is the platform for doing biz.  And don't forget voice.  But these are not smartphones and the window for feature phones is closing fast.  Samsung, HTC and other Asian hardware makers are agnostic regarding software. They make almost identical phones for many carriers and running Android and Windows, even a few Symbian models.   Nokia will be feeling the squeeze soon if not now.  In smartphones, they have a tiny share of the US market.  In Western Europe, they are losing share to foreign hardware and software (Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, HTC).  If Microsoft does a good job, they should be able get Windows Phone on 30% of US smartphones.  Coming from behind, it's going to be tough.  So Nokia's expertise is truly needed.  They have to be cheaper and better than Apple and Google to get there.   Microsoft has the research power to compete with Google, Nokia does not.  

Man Killed by Rooster

I hope it was not Tony. 

BAKERSFIELD, Calif., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A 35-year-old California man, Jose Luis Ochoa, has died after being stabbed in the calf by a cockfighting bird, police in Bakersfield said. Sgt. Martin King of the Kern County Sheriff's Department said in his 24 years on the force he has never seen this type of accident, The Bakersfield Californian reported.  Cockfighting is a gambling event in which birds armed with razor-like knives on their legs fight each other, often to the death."This is a sport that is popular in other parts of the world, and they have brought that interest to Kern County," said Mike Constantine, public health director. "It's illegal and inhumane, but we have not seen a decline." John Goodwin of the Humane Society of the United Sates said California is an "attractive destination" for people involved in cockfighting especially because nearby states like Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico punish the crime as a felony.  In California, cockfighting is a misdemeanor. Goodwin said Ochoa's death is not surprising. "It's pretty rare, but I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often considering the knives they put on those birds," he said.
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