Hollywood Tailoring Movies for Overseas Audiences

By GLENN WHIPP For The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES May 18, 2011 (AP)

Hollywood knows pirates and robots travel well overseas. This summer, movie studios will learn if the same holds true for hung-over Americans, alien-battling cowboys and animated cars that detour from Route 66.

And if these movies get hung up at the border, you can't say the filmmakers didn't put in the effort.

With international moviegoers now accounting for up to two-thirds of a blockbuster's total receipts, movies are more than ever being crafted with overseas audiences in mind — from story to casting to setting. Some animated films even substitute vocal talent, characters and jokes country by country.

"If we have storylines that at script-stage feel too U.S.-centric, especially with big action or science-fiction movies, we try to come up with solutions that will make the movie feel more global," says Tomas Jegeus, co-president of 20th Century Fox International Theatrical.

Evidence of that focus has been strong so far this year as more and more theaters enter the international marketplace. The high-octane heist picture "Fast Five," set in Rio de Janeiro and sporting a cast packing global appeal, currently leads the worldwide box office. Its revenues just passed the animated movie "Rio," also set in Brazil.


Both films also opened in selected international territories earlier than North America. That release pattern, once rare, is now commonplace — a concession both to piracy concerns and the importance of the global audience.

"Studios want to make movies that integrate international flavor and in genres that transcend cultures and language," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office division of Hollywood.com. "This is a global business and it's no longer who the stars are, but where they come from."

This can be seen in the internationally-loaded casting of would-be summer blockbusters like "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," debuting this weekend after its high-profile premiere last Saturday at the Cannes Film FestivAl , and the Brit-heavy "X-Men: First Class."

"If you have the possibility of hiring an actor who travels well, you try to do it," says "Pirates" producer Jerry Bruckheimer, whose movie includes two newcomers — Spanish actress Penelope Cruz and England's Ian McShane — in lead roles. "An actor's worldwide popularity can only help with audiences."

Shading humor specifically to countries' cultures is also becoming a popular way to fuel box-office receipts. 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios have worked wonders dubbing voices and localizing jokes for their "Ice Age" animated movies. Grosses from the films climbed from $383 million for the 2002 original to the $886 million take of "Dawn of the Dinosaurs," the third entry in the series.

"These movies aren't based on any particular culture, so you can dub them and they become local movies in every country," says Brazilian filmmaker Carlos Saldanha, director of "Rio" and the "Ice Age" films.

Pixar Animation will be following that formula to a degree this summer, localizing "Cars 2" in six different countries by subbing in a different car for a scene that takes place at a Tokyo party.

NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon provides the voice in the United States, but will be replaced in the one scene with regional favorites like Australian racer Mark Winterbottom and Spanish Formula One driver Fernando Alonso.

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Actress Minissha detained at Mumbai airport with Rs 50 lakh jewellery

Mumbai: Bollywood actress Minissha Lamba, who walked the red carpet at Cannes last week, was on Wednesday detained at the international airport here for not declaring gold and diamond jewellery worth over Rs 50 lakh, an official said.

The 26-year-old actor, who landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport from Cannes, France, via Dubai by an Emirates flight at 8.30 am, was crossing the green channel when she was intercepted by the Customs officials.

While checking her luggage, she was found to be carrying jewellery worth over Rs 50 lakh in her bag, the official said.

"The actress was carrying gold bangles, necklace, earrings and other gold and diamond jewellery in the bag. We are questioning the actress, who tried to evade customs duty by not declaring the goods," he added.

But the airport episode was not the beginning of her troubles. One of her bags was stolen in Nice, France.

"Disaster has struck. A baggage of mine has been stolen at Nice Airport. I can't believe something like this has happened," she tweeted.

"Even with two CCTV cameras right over the baggage, police or airline still won't confirm if it was 'stolen' or 'misplaced' (sic)," she said.

Lamba, whose debut film 'Yahaan' garnered critical acclaim, has acted in movies like 'Bachna Ae Haseeno', 'Corporate' and 'Well Done Abba'.

She was in France to attend the premiere of Woody Allen's 'Midnight in Paris`. Lamba was also invited for a bash post the screening. 

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IPL is a gimmick, irrelevant and not good for cricket

Call me a fuddy-duddy but IPL leaves me cold. And this is despite my favourites, Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, and Virender Sehwag, among others playing.

First the good points of IPL: you see the best players from yesterday, today and tomorrow in action.

Old ‘foes’ like Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds play side by side for the same team, Mumbai Indians, their misunderstandings probably forgotten.

Youngsters have a chance to play with, and against, legends. Indian rookies have learnt an enormous amount from overseas legends such as Warney, Gilly, Watto, Gayle, Lee, Tait, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, and Vettori.

The record 206 run stand between Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh for King’s XI Punjab on Tuesday night brightened up Australian cricketers’ listless performance in IPL 2011 so far.

Now the minus points:

Who cares as to who wins?

Those ten sides are neither national nor State teams. They are franchises made up of auctioned cricketers.

Bill O’Reilly described Packer cricket in late 1970s as a circus with clowns (players wearing colour clothing). But at least they were playing for their countries. I shudder to think how he would have described the IPL cricketers!

Talented IPL players provide entertainment galore.

And crowds lap it up. But TV ratings are falling this year in India, with the average rating for the first 37 games down 25% from the previous year.

But it is not all bad news for IPL this year, as the cumulative number of people who have watched live the tournament this season has already surpassed last season’s total.

As far as I know, pay TV is not showing IPL-2011 in Australia. No one Down Under seems to care two hoots for this franchise razzmatazz.

This is despite a strong representation of Australians players.

As many as 32 Australians (an average of 3.2 Australians per franchise) have participated in IPL-2011, with two as captains – Warne leading Rajasthan Royals and Gilchrist, King’s XI Punjab.

Six Australians are coaches of different franchises: Geoff Lawson, Geoff Marsh, Michael Bevan, Darren Lehman, Dav Whatmore and Greg Shipperd.

But with the exceptions of Shaun Marsh, Adam Gilchrist and Brad Hodge, the performances of the Australians have been disappointing.

In batting, only three out of Top-15 run-getters are Australians: Shaun Marsh on the top with 491 runs, Mike Hussey at no. 7 and Gilchrist at no. 14. Six have scored centuries; one of them is an Australian (Gilchrist 106).

On Tuesday, Gilchrist (106 with 8 fours and 9 sixes) and Marsh (79 not out with 7 fours and 5 sixes) added 206 runs for the second wicket. This is the highest partnership in the four years of IPL for any wicket and the only partnership of over 200 runs.

In bowling, only two out of the 25 top wicket-takers are Australians: Doug Bollinger at no.7 and Shane Warne at no. 15. Four have taken 5 wickets in an innings, not one Aussie among them.

The saving grace is Brad Hodge who heads the bowling average with 8.83 in 13 matches.

In wicket-keeping, Gilchrist is the third on the list, having made 12 dismissals (9 caught and 3 stumped in 13 matches) after Kumar Sangakkara (17+2 in 13 matches) and Robin Uthappa (11+3 in 12).

Gilchrist’s King’s XI Punjab is joint fourth out of 10 teams and Warne’s Rajasthan Royals seventh.

So Marsh, Gilchrist and Hodge apart, Australians have a disappointing record so far.

As if this was not bad enough, Rajasthan Royals decided to take disciplinary action against its captain Warne last Saturday after an internal probe found the legendary Australian guilty of publicly insulting Sanjay Dixit, the secretary of his franchise.

“The player (Warne) has accepted the action that we have taken and apologised for any distress caused,” Rajasthan Royals’ CEO Sean Morris said.

“We have told all our players that we will not tolerate colourful language towards anyone and in particular not a senior officer,” Morris added.

The plot thickens.

But why this hoo-hah? Does IPL really matter?

It’s a money-making gimmick, irrelevant and not good for cricket. If the standard of play is not outstanding, ‘bring on the controversies’ is the mantra. It sells.

Now the IPL epidemic will soon become a pandemic with Sri Lanka starting their SLPL, England perhaps their EPL, and Australia their international Big Bash.

The ball is in your court, Roarers.

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UN takes proactive role in world politics after Arab Spring

After fading from the international limelight when the US unilaterally invaded Iraq in 2003, the UN Security Council has returned to center stage by demonstrating a renewed willingness to use force to protect civilians

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has adopted a more proactive role in international politics in recent months as the world has been rapidly confronted with one crisis after another. In the civil wars in both Libya and Ivory Coast, the UN mandated the use of "all necessary means" to protect civilian life. 

This willingness to decisively confront international crises comes after years of a post-Iraq malaise in which the Security Council largely took a back seat as the United States unilaterally pursued its national interests around the world.

But as popular uprisings have rapidly spread from one Arab country to another, the Security Council has become the focal point of international efforts to adopt common positions on crises that impact global stability.

The council has demonstrated itself willing and capable - under the right political circumstances - of using military force and economic sanctions in order to enforce international law and human rights.

"In many ways the [Security] Council has become more active on all those fronts in terms of coercive instruments," Edward Luck, Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, told Deutsche Welle. 

Ghosts of Iraq

In the case of Iraq, the UN Security Council ultimately came to an impasse when the US and UK pressed for a second resolution to mandate force in order to coerce Saddam Hussein to comply with weapons inspectors.  

The other three veto-wielding members - France, China and Russia - rejected Washington's and London's calls for the authority to use force. Unwilling to wait for UN inspectors to complete their investigation of Baghdad's alleged weapons program, Washington unilaterally invaded Iraq without a Security Council mandate.  

Manuel Fröhlich, an expert on the UN with Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, acknowledged that the differences over Iraq led to a major crisis that challenged the Security Council's ability to preserve international peace and stability.

However, he says that the refusal of the Security Council to authorize the invasion of Iraq can also be viewed as a demonstration of the body's integrity.

"Many people believe that by not issuing a second mandate for the Iraq War, the Security Council showed its relevance and upheld the functions of the body by not bowing to American pressure," Fröhlich told Deutsche Welle.

Richard Gowan, an expert on the UN's role in African security, says that although the Bush Administration initially decided to invade Iraq without Security Council authorization, Washington ultimately sought UN assistance afterwards. 

"After 2003, the US went back to the UN for approval for its continued military presence in Iraq, it looked for UN support for state building in Iraq and Afghanistan," Gowan, who is with the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Deutsche Welle

"The Bush Administration actually turned to the UN and relied on the UN far more than it admitted or others recognized," he added.

Human rights in Libya

Although the UN proved unable to reach a consensus in the case of Iraq, the recent popular uprisings in the Arab world have pressured the veto-wielding Security Council members to adopt more consistent positions on intervention and human rights.

When the uprising in Libya degenerated into violence as leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces marched on the opposition-stronghold of Benghazi, the Security Council authorized the use of force to protect civilians.

Just 30 days after the Libyan government's crackdown began, an international military coalition initiated airstrikes to stop Gadhafi's advance.

"The verbage coming from Gadhafi and some of his supporters in calling protesters cockroaches and saying they'd go house to house searching for these people - it just sounded as if he was preparing for a bloodbath in Benghazi and elsewhere," Luck said

"Given that cockroach was a term used in Rwanda in 1994 in the genocide against the Tutsis, it sounded very much like an echo from the carnage of 1994 and I think people were quite aware of that."

Rule of law in Ivory Coast

Already in crisis mode from Libya, the Security Council began to take a more aggressive stance toward the simmering conflict in the West African country of Ivory Coast.

As fighting between the internationally recognized presidential election winner Alassane Ouattara and incumbent Laurent Gbagbo intensified around the main city, Abidjan, the UN called on its peacekeepers to eliminate Gbagbo's heavy weapons. 

"The Security Council found itself in a difficult position because it had moved so quickly to stop a humanitarian disaster in Benghazi that it would have faced public political shame if there had been a massacre in Abidjan that people could have called the new Srebrenica," Gowan said, referring to the massacre of Bosnian Muslims by Serbian forces in 1995. 

Establishing precedents 

According to Fröhlich, the UN-sanctioned interventions in Libya and Ivory Coast have bolstered the Security Council after the Iraq crisis and given concrete political meaning to the concept of protecting civilians, a measure passed by the UN General Assembly in 2005 but rarely put into practice.

"Up until now that was a non-binding declaration of the UN General Assembly, and the Security Council was very hesitant to make the protection of civilian populations a prioritized goal that would carry immediate military consequences."

Fröhlich argues that the Security Council's increasing use of the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes, as in the case of Libya, is forging a new understanding of the value assigned to protecting civilians and has made preventing war crimes a central aim of the international community.

Political limitations in Syria 

Although protecting civilians and preventing war crimes have become a serious priority for the UN in Ivory Coast and Libya, the Security Council has proven - up to this point - either unwilling or unable to address the government crackdown on peaceful protesters in Syria.

While condemning the crackdown in Syria, Luck says that the violence has not yet escalated to the level that caused the Security Council to intervene in Libya.

"There's sometimes this assumption that the Security Council is a machine that sort of automatically responds in a particular way to a particular situation [but] its 15 sovereign member states," Luck said.

"Those of us who believe very much in values and in principles sometimes would like to see more consistency on the part of the council, but we have to recognize that it is ultimately a political body."

As a political body, the Security Council ultimately intervenes only when the national interests of the five permanent veto-wielding members - US, France, UK, China and Russia - do not conflict. 

Gowan says that typically those great powers can come to a consensus only on crises that are peripheral to their own geopolitical interests.

"There are still a huge number of crises that are of second order in terms of global politics but in humanitarian terms are huge," he said.  "They're second order in terms of US national security or Chinese national security, but they're first order crises in terms of lives lost."

"The UN deals with those crises."

Author: Spencer Kimball
Editor: Rob Mudge

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How to protect your Mac from recent malware

Recently a new series of Trojan horse attempts have targeted OS X users with downloadable malware applications that try to lure you to providing personal information, and with malicious Web sites that trick you into downloading malware onto your systems. Despite warnings about these new malware attempts, numerous people have fallen for these efforts and have downloaded and installed the malware distributed by these sites.

In the past few days since these scams surfaced, a number of MacFixIt readers have contacted us wondering about whether or not their systems are safe after having seen the site on their systems or even downloading the files to their computers. They want to know what they can do to check for and remove the malware.

What the recent malware does
If you have seen the "Apple Security Center" Web site and have clicked on the "Remove All" button, the site will download an installer file for malware that runs locally on your system. The program is distributed in several forms that so far have taken the names "Mac Defender," "Mac Security," and "Mac Protector." When installed it will run in the background and launch pornographic Web sites and other unwanted content, and show a fairly clean and crisp-looking scanner interface that will ask you to purchase an upgrade.

If you provide your information to the program, you chance identity theft and charges to your credit cards.

Removing it!
Luckily the malware is fairly easy to remove, as it basically runs as a background process on your system that is launched by an action the user takes (logging in, etc.). If you have not installed any programs or opened any files downloaded from these sites, then you should be good to go and can just delete the downloaded files. If you have only visited the site and have not downloaded any files, then you do not need to do anything.

However, if you have opened the downloaded files and especially if you are seeing the malicious behaivor (unwanted pornographic sites randomly opening), or the scanner program launching and saying you have infected files, then you will need to check for and remove the program. To remove it, follow these steps:

1. Shut it down.
   Open the Activity Monitor utility and perform a search for the malware (or browse through the list of running processes for it--sort by name to prevent the list from jumping around). The malware should be called "MacDefender," "MacSecurity," or "MacProtector" and will be running under the current user's name (see the "User" column of activity monitor). Reputable antivirus software for your system will be running under the user name "root" and will have required a full installation that required you to supply your administrator credentials.
   With the malware selected in Activity Monitor, click the "Quit Process" button and confirm to quit it (use the force-quit option if it will not quit).
   If you want to use the Terminal to do this, you can run the following command to kill the processes by name (the "sudo" portion may not be needed, but this will ensure the system can fully kill the running processes):
   sudo killall macdefender macsecurity macprotector
2. Remove the program.
   Go to the /Applications folder and move the program to the trash (it should likewise be called "MacDefender," "Mac Security," or "Mac Protector"). Also locate the installer file (likely in your Downloads directory, or wherever you have Safari store downloaded items) and move it to the trash as well. When you have done this, empty the trash.
3. Remove references to the program.
   So far the program is launched at log-in by the system's "Login Items" feature. Go to the "Accounts" system preferences and choose your account name. Then go to the "Login Items" tab and remove any reference to the software from that list.

Ongoing protection
With the malware removed your system should be good to go; however, there is always the possibility that the malware will change in the future and adopt a new name or a new method of trying to trick users. Generally malware is more prevalent on underground, software piracy, and pornographic Web sites, but numerous people have reported the current Trojans showing up when browsing MSN and other reputable sites. Therefore, in order to better protect yourself you may need more than basic Internet "street smarts." To better protect your system, try some of the following suggestions:

1. Disable auto-handling of files
   Apple supplies a few options to automatically handle files, including the option in Safari to automatically open "Safe" files. Unfortunately the files that Safari considers to be "Safe" are not always so. Therefore, go to Safari's preferences and uncheck the option to open safe files.
2. Always manually install programs or open documents
   In addition to Safari, check your other Internet-based programs such as e-mail clients, chat programs, and Web browsers to see if they automatically launch files received from the Internet. For instance, Mail has an option to automatically add iCal invites to your calendars. Turn this feature off and manually click on any received invitations only after you have confirmed they are legitimate. Do this for all files received on your system.
3. Install a reputable malware scanner.
   There are a number of reputable malware scanners out there, so purchase one, install it, and keep it updated with the latest malware definitions. Some of these scanners are free, and others are commercial products (this list is not complete):
   1. Sophos Antivirus (Mac Home edition)--This is a reputable package that has a free "Home" version available for Mac users.
   2. MacScan--This is distributed by the "SecureMac" developers who run the SecureMac.com blog on Mac malware and other security threats.
   3. Intego VirusBarrier--Another long-standing Mac antivirus utility, VirusBarrier has tackled this threat from when it first came out.
   4. Kapersky--Kapersky is a reuptable program for Windows and Linux, and also has an option for OS X users. Some virtualization programs for OS X ship with trials of Kapersky antivirus.
   5. ClamXav--This is a popular and free open-source antivirus scanner.
   6. iAntivirus--this is a free Mac-specific virus scanner for OS X users.
   7. Avast--This is a commercial antivirus suite that has been developed for OS X, and is a reputable option for Windows as well.
   8. MacKeeper--This is a maintenance and OS tweaking tool that has a ClamAV client
   9. Norton Antivirus--One of the longest-standing antivirus and security suites for OS X.
   10. McAfee VirusScan--McAfee's VirusScan developed from the original "Virex" for Mac, and has been developed since into a solid option for OS X users.
4. Set up specific downloads folders
   Know where your programs download files on your system. By default most will use the system's Downloads folder; however, some will place files in other locations on your system. Here are some common folders where files may be downloaded:
   1. /username/Downloads
   2. /username/Public
   3. /username/Documents/FOLDER
   4. /username/Library/Mail Downloads
   5. /username/Library/Application Support
   6. /username/Library/FOLDER
   In these paths, the name "FOLDER" can be the name of the application or a designated downloads folder for that application. For instance, the downloads folder for Mail is called "Mail Downloads" where various attachments are stored. If possible, set up your programs to download files to the same folder so files can be easily managed. Do this for chat programs, e-mail clients, and Web browsers.
   Protect your backups by excluding these download folders from them. This can be done in Time Machine's preferences or in the settings for a drive cloning utility if you use one.
   Additionally, set up an antivirus utility to regularly scan these download folders for threats. If you set your scanner, do check these folders "on access," then they will check files as they are added to the folders. Currently it is not necessary to scan your whole system "on access" (though this is an option) but I would recommend regularly scanning the entire user folder periodically (once a week, or once a month) to cover all the less commonly used download folders that may have been set up by various programs you use.

R

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Windows 8 for ARM won’t run existing Windows software

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• By: Geoff Duncan

The head of Intel's software business says Microsoft plans multiple versions of Windows for ARM processors...and none will run existing Windows software.

Speaking at a presentation in Santa Clara, California, Renee James, the head of Intel’s software business said Microsoft is gearing up to offer multiple versions of Windows 8, including four that target ARM processors. However, while versions of Windows 8 for Intel’s x86 architecture will be backward-compatible with most existing Windows software, the ARM versions won’t offer backward compatibility. Windows 8 for ARM will only run applications specifically developed for Windows 8 on ARM, leaving the universe of existing Windows software in the dust.

James’ comments were reported in Bloomberg and The Register.

James’ comments confirm earlier industry reports that Microsoft has been building multiple versions of Windows 8 for the ARM platform, in a retail strategy that would appear to mirror the company’s long-standing versioning for Windows: several versions at different price points to target everyone from first-time users to high-end professionals and media fiends.

However, it’s not clear how Microsoft’s multiple-version strategy will play in the mobile device market, which will be the primary target for ARM versions of Windows 8. Microsoft is already concerned about computer sales (and sales of Windows) being eroded by tablet computers like Apple’s iPad and a myriad of devices running Google’s Android operating system.

The ARM-based version of Windows will be aimed staunchly at tablets and other mobile devices in order to give Microsoft and its OEM partners a serious operating system in that market. It’s understandable from a technical standpoint why an ARM version of Windows wouldn’t offer compatibility with x86 applications (the engineering effort and performance hit of emulation would be substantial), and it’s easy to understand why Microsoft may wish to offer different feature sets for devices aimed at consumers and enterprise customers. However, fragmenting potential market for Windows 8 mobile devices into categories like “Home,” “Home Premium,” “Professional,” and “Ultimate” could also backfire, creating consumer confusion. If there’s anything fragmentation in the Android market has proven, it’s that consumers prefer a device that “just works.”

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Nokia ties up with Microsoft, set to embrace Bing Read more

Finnish mobile maker Nokia will introduce a new ‘Search’ feature on its mobile phones which will allow users to locate a particular place at just a click, a report in the Nokia official blog said.

Nokia said it will be collaborating with Microsoft. The decision comes just after the success of Nokia’s ‘Ovi Store’ which allows users to buy mobile phone applications. Sometimes, the apps are free of charge.
In an open letter from Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, he elaborated that Nokia will adopt Windows based smartphones and innovate imaging and other areas. Nokia’s Search will be powered by Bing, a web search engine from Microsoft. This will allow users to access Bing’s next generation search facilities. Nokia will also adopt Microsoft’s mapping services and they will also be incorporated with Bing.
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“We each bring incredible assets to the table. Nokia’s history of innovation in the hardware space, global hardware scale, strong history of intellectual property creation and navigation assets are second to none. Microsoft is a leader in software and services,” said Elop in the company’s official blog.
“The company’s incredible expertise in platform creation forms the opportunity for its billions of customers and millions of partners to get more out of their devices,” he added.
Elop, along with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, said that Microsoft development tools will be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allow developers to easily influence the engine’s global reach. Nokia’s content and application store will be incorporated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more convincing consumer experience.
“Together, we have some of the world’s most admired brands, including Windows, Office, Bing, Xbox Live, NAVTEQ and Nokia. We also have a shared understanding of what it takes to build and sustain a mobile ecosystem, which includes the entire experience from the device to the software to the applications, services and the marketplace,” wrote Ballmer

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How Microsoft, Skype, Nokia can rule: Cut out obscene data roaming rates abroad

By Larry Dignan


Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates stumped for the $8.5 billion Skype purchase and international domination may be a good reason for the enthusiasm. Microsoft, Nokia and Skype could be deadly to data roaming charges.

In a BBC interview, Gates said he advocated for the Skype acquisition. Surprise! Did you expect Gates to say that he hated the Skype purchase and that it was too pricey?

In the BBC chat, Gates said video conferencing will improve. He’s alluding to the fact that video phones will be common—you could argue that they are today via tablets and Skype.

Kevin Fox, a Mozilla Labs designer, argued that Microsoft-Skype and Nokia can upend mobile carriers. Google is aiming for something similar.

I agree with Fox, but there are a few other key items to consider about the Microsoft-Skype combination with a broad partnership with Nokia. Here’s the landscape:

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 on Nokia phones will still have a tough time getting traction in the U.S.
In Europe, however, Microsoft and Nokia could do significant damage in terms of market share gains.
Skype is well received abroad and serves as a killer app on a solid mobile OS with good hardware from Microsoft and Nokia, respectively.
Europe also happens to be the place where data roaming charges are obscene. ZDNet highlighted the data roaming issue in polls around the world.
Take those moving parts and Nokia and Microsoft could take Skype and integrate it to the point where it can minimize carrier connections on the fly. If Skype could instinctively leverage Wi-Fi where ever possible—or cut out wireless carriers entirely—Nokia and Microsoft could do a real service.
And those data roaming charges are high enough where even folks that even the Microsoft phobic would play along.


It’s unclear whether Microsoft-Skype-Nokia could pull off such a carrier-minimizing stunt, but the math adds up. Users could theoretically save on data roaming. And all Microsoft has to do with Nokia is hold the line on international market share and both companies will be major players.

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