I’m with Scoble on this one: the Nokia/Microsoft partnership is a pretty good idea. Here’s why:

1. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is actually pretty good. It’s certainly better than Nokia’s Symbian and arguably better than Android.
2. Microsoft gets massive hardware distribution, which will attract developers.
3. Apps: The platform will be too big to ignore. And apps are what count. You can’t just have cool devices or cool software, you’ve got to have a platform. This is why HP should also go with Windows Phone 7, instead of trying to get webOS off the ground (it’s great, but it’s doomed).

As Scoble says:

Nokia has great hardware design and supply chains. They always have great cameras, great screens. Supply chains matter. A lot more than anyone thinks (the stuff Apple never talks about, but works its ass off on is supply chain management — I got to see this first hand when I visited China).
You add that all up as a salad and now the smart developers have to take another look at Microsoft and Nokia. They can’t ignore them like they can RIM (we all know people won’t use a lot of cool apps on a Blackberry).

Scoble: Dear Nokia Fans: You’re Nuts!

If you need a good laugh as much as you need a roll in the hay, a new app that promises to synch music to the intensity of your lovemaking may be just the thing.

The Matt Berry Sexytime Soundtrack App works using the iPhone’s accelerometer – put your phone on your bed and it should regulate the music to your amorous ministrations. So the harder you go at it, the raunchier the music gets.

Just don’t expect to keep a straight face: you’ll be goaded and chided by the voice of Matt Berry, who interjects things like: “You’ll probably get breakfast for this.”

With these words, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop declared his intentions for the future as part of his company’s strategic partnership with Microsoft. Both companies are trailing in Apple’s wake and urgently need to catch up.

The first part of Elop and Steve Ballmer’s open letter is somewhat dull, but the final paragraphs contain the real meat.

“Today, the battle is moving from one of mobile devices to one of mobile ecosystems,” they declare. “Ecosystems thrive when they reach scale, when they are fueled by energy and innovation and when they provide benefits and value to each person or company who participates. This is what we are creating; this is our vision; this is the work we are driving from this day forward.”

And then this declaration of war: “There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them.”

I, for one, welcome our new Nokisoft overlords; and I’ll happily raise a glass to disruption. Let’s see what actual shipping products they come up with, shall we?

We start off the day with a deal on the MacBook Air. The Apple Store is offering a number of refurbished MacBook Airs, starting at $849 for a 1.4GHz 64GB SSD unit with 2GB of RAM. Also on tap are several refurbished iPads with price cuts up to $100 from the Apple Store, starting at $429 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model. We wrap up the day’s deal spotlight with an iLuv iPod docking speaker for just $27.

Along the way, we’ll also take a look at other speaker units, a flip case for your iPod touch, as well as software for your Mac. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Although pointedly explaining that he has no direct knowledge of such a move, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber has just posted a fascinating piece speculating that 2011 might not just see the release of the iPad 2, but the iPad 3 as well.

Readability is an excellent bit of Javascript that strips online content down to its barest and most readable elements, and was borrowed wholesale last year by Apple for the new Safari Reader option in Safari 5.

Late last month, it became even more excellent by relaunching itself as a reading platform in its own right. Launching aside a native iOS app powered by Marco Arment’s excellent Instapaper, Readability is now more than a snip of Javascript code but instead a monthly subscription service that pays 70% of its collected fees directly to the writers and publishers being read.

We reached out to Arc90’s Richard Ziade for a quick chat about what Readability’s new change in scope would mean not just for existing users, but for publishers of web content looking to get paid.

Forget the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. At their webOS event today, HP just unveiled the HP TouchPad, and judging by first initial blush, it might be the first tablet that can really challenge the iPad in its own game.

Boasting a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and a 9.7-inch 2024 x 768 display (just like the iPad), the HP TouchPad comes with either 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage, as well as Flash Player 10.1 support and the newest iteration of HP’s webOS operating system.

Thanks to a front-facing camera, the TouchPad supports FaceTime-style video calling, and to improve sound quality, HP has carried their Beats Audio technology over from their line of notebooks to the TouchPad. And because of the new functionality found in webOS 3.0 as well as HP’s revised Touchstone technology, the TouchPad has its own versions of AirPrint and AirPlay. Like with the Veer and Pre 3, this TouchStone technology will allow you to share information between webOS devices by tapping them together, as well as allow you to charge your TouchPad wirelessly.

To be honest, this looks like a heck of a response to the iPad, and maybe the first tablet that tries to compete with Apple on its own terms. The only problem is that when it’s released this summer for an unreleased price, the TouchPad won’t be taking on the iPad… it’ll be taking on the iPad 2. That puts HP at a huge disadvantage, because not only will the iPad 2 obviate most of the TouchPad’s strengths (video chat and a dual-core processor, most of all) but will also give users access to a much more robust app ecosystem than that afforded by webOS.

We start out with several iPad cases, including a leather item from UrbnFlip, as well as a hard case from Philips. We also check out a number of refurbished iPod touch MP3 players, including an 8GB model for $149.

Along the way, we’ll also take a look at a number of other gadgets and software titles for your Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod. As always, details on these and much more can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

TUAW has just posted a rather interesting theory about what will happen to the original iPad once the iPad 2 is released in the next few months: they suggest that the iPad will be handled more like the iPhone than the Mac, and the previous generation iPad will still be sold for another year as the “budget” model, similar to the way the iPhone 3GS is still sold by AT&T as the sub-$100 iPhone.

Under this theory, the iPad range might start at a $399 price point for the original iPad with WiFi. It’s an intriguing thought, but I tend to doubt it, for one reason: Apple selling the previous gen iPhone as a budget model has more to do with the carriers than Apple itself.

A US congressman wrote to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting more information about possible consumer protection issues related to “in-app” purchases — such as kiddy game “Smurf’s Village” we’ve been talking about for months.

Spurred on by a Washington Post article (what, he doesn’t religiously read Cult of Mac?) Congressman Edward J. Markey, a senior member and former chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee, fired off a few thoughts on the games that target young children.

An excerpt from Markey’s letter:

“I am disturbed by news that in-app purchases may be taking advantage of children’s lack of understanding when it comes to money and what it means to ‘buy’ an imaginary game piece on the Web.  Companies shouldn’t be able to use Smurfs and snowflakes and zoos as online ATMs pulling money from the pockets of unsuspecting parents.  The use of mobile apps will continue to escalate, which is why it is critical that more is done now to examine these practices. I will continue to closely monitor this issue and look forward to the FTC’s response.”

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