"It will cost 99 euro ($135; £80) when released in July."
Is that the price with a 2-year contract or is this going to be a great value phone?
Will I be able to wipe this phone and install stock Android? Skype, Outlook, Bing, and all that other MS crap is unwanted. I'm actually a MS supporter and understand the need for them to create all of those services but I personally don't/won't use them.
Also, why are UK citizens against adopting the euro?
I'm only partially joking there. The Euro has had large amounts of turmoil in the past three years which has involved large bailouts of some countries. The inevitable path appears to be closer alignment of fiscal policy (including taxation and public spending) which is sovereignty that the UK public is opposed to giving up. There's a strong anti-EU sentiment in the UK with a significant proportion in favour of the UK leaving the EU.
In addition, adopting the Euro would mean giving up independent monetary policy. Unilateral monetary policy across regions with disparate economic performance can be very problematic.
Consider the case of Hong Kong, which has effectively adopted the US dollar (pegged in 1983). Despite the fact the economy has been growing strongly and inflation is running around 4-5%, interest rates are near zero, as dictated by the Fed.
As a result, fixed asset prices have soared, with residential real estate rising 100% over the last five years.
Those that own assets benefit and everyone else gets screwed as asset price changes feed into cost of living without wage growth to compensate. No surprise then that HK has the most unequal income distribution in the developed world. [1]
This also works the other way. So as others have pointed out, until there is a proper fiscal union (which I certainly can't see in the foreseeable future), the decision to not adopt the Euro seems wise.
That makes sense. It was a real question I had, I have no opinion of the matter.
I guess the UK sees itself as having a more stable economy that other European Union countries, so it would benefit from having a separate currency (but the other countries would be hurt by not having a very strong country adopt the euro).
Not more stable, but historically out of phase. i.e. when Germany has done well the UK has had a down phase and vice versa.
The killer flaw in the Eurozone is not appreciating how useful different currencies are for dampening the effect of such differences. Greece is the classic example, where for them the Euro was too strong making them globally uncompetitive, leading to a nasty downward spiral, whereas Germany benefit from their exports being far more competitive than they would be if they were still using the DM.
My completely uneducated guess is that you won't be able to remove the Windows services. The reason being that Microsoft haven't so much produced an Android phone as a low end Windows mobile services phone. That seems quite a sensible strategy.
Oh and we haven't adopted the Euro as its current parents still appear to want it even though it's caused no end of trouble in its teen years.
Beacuse, at the moment, the Great British Pound is exactly that. It's stronger than the euro, it's regulated by britan and it is minted in the royal mint.
Long live the queen (or something like that)
Effectively this is what the Bretton Woods system was. It has the limitation that states then have to maintain a neutral balance of payments (imports+investment in = exports+investment out). This turns out to be much harder than it sounds, especially in a world of expensive post 1971 oil and even more so given post 2005 oil prices.
Nope, too much stuff I don't care about. I'd rather ignore topics that don't relate to me and let all the facts and opinions come out, then do research and come to my own conclusion if I'm ever interesting in the specific subject.
If it's really important then I'll stumble upon it online or hear friends talking about it.
I'd rather see online news posts and people stating their opinion, then people arguing with them and providing sources as to why they're wrong or right.
Is that the price with a 2-year contract or is this going to be a great value phone?
Will I be able to wipe this phone and install stock Android? Skype, Outlook, Bing, and all that other MS crap is unwanted. I'm actually a MS supporter and understand the need for them to create all of those services but I personally don't/won't use them.
Also, why are UK citizens against adopting the euro?