The idea is that Samsung cannot continue to prosper just as a hardware maker.

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However, I have a very strong feeling that as a box maker, a hardware manufacturer, you want to have your technology based on whichever chipset is being developed most widely.

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As part of a co-operation agreement with Nokia, Microsoft is using the Finnish company as its hardware-maker of reference.

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Where HP's work bringing webOS to new platforms and architecture could pay off, though, is in licensing webOS. Effective licensing ultimately requires supporting a broad range of hardware configurations, a burden that Nokia, for example, has pledged to help Microsoft with as the phone maker brings Windows Phone 7 to less costly hardware.

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