The Nook Tablet is seen during a demonstration at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York, November 7, 2011.

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NEW YORK | Fri Dec 14, 2012 8:09pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A piano used in the classic film "Casablanca" sold for just over $600,000 on Friday, falling far short of predictions that it could fetch $1 million or more.

The 58-key upright piano on which actor and singer Dooley Wilson performed "As Time Goes By," the signature song of the 1942 film's star-crossed lovers played by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, sold at Sotheby's for $602,500 including commission.

The auction house had assigned the iconic prop a pre-sale estimate of $800,000 to $1.2 million, given some astonishing prices attained by movie memorabilia in recent years.

In the film, the character Sam (Wilson) plays the signature song "As Time Goes By" during flashback scenes set in Paris, as well as in Bogart's club in Casablanca, where he and Bergman rekindle their romance.

Bergman's memorable lines included the imploring: "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.'"

Sotheby's had sold the piano, which was the one used during the Paris flashback scenes, to a Japanese collector in 1988, who paid $154,000, one of the highest prices ever paid for a movie prop at the time.

The film, set in Morocco during World War Two, won three Academy Awards including best picture, best writing and best director for Michael Curtiz.

The auction house did not identify the buyer.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Patricia Reaney and Bob Burgdorfer)

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DUBAI | Sat Sep 29, 2012 3:23am EDT

DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai's Emaar Properties EMAR.DU, the builder of the world's tallest tower, has sold one of its hotel assets to an Abu Dhabi-based real estate firm for an undisclosed amount.

Eshraq Properties ESHR.AD said in a statement on Saturday that it has acquired Nuran Marina, a serviced hotel apartment owned by Emaar and located in the up-market Dubai Marina area.

Emaar was not immediately available for comment.

Dubai's largest developer has looked to shift away from its home market where real estate prices have slumped by more than 60 percent in the aftermath of the debt crisis in 2009.

Emaar's chairman, Mohammed Alabbar, had denied reports in October last year that it was looking to offload its Al Manzil and Qamaradeen hotels.

The developer announced plans this month to build a new hotel in the Dubai's high-end Downtown area, its first major hotel project since the property crisis.

Eshraq, which has assets of about 1.5 billion dirhams, listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Market .ADI in September last year. It raised 825 million dirhams ($225 million) in an over-subscribed initial public offering (IPO).

Eshraq said it would carry on with its strategy to acquire other real estate projects in the country.

(Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Angus McDowall and Robert Birsel)

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* Value not disclosed, includes up to 125 staff

* Digia to make Qt available for iOS, Android, Windows

HELSINKI Aug 9 (Reuters) - Struggling cellphone maker Nokia has agreed to sell its Qt software business to Finnish IT services firm Digia Oyj as part of its strategy to sell off non-core assets.

The companies did not disclose the value of the deal, which analysts said was a fraction of the $150 million Nokia paid for Norway's Trolltech in 2008.

The software is used by some 450,000 developers for making applications for some 70 industries.

Up to 125 employees working on developing and licensing the software will move from Nokia to Digia, the companies said on Thursday.

Nokia bought the software through its acquisition of Trolltech and it was a central part of its strategy until 2011 when it decided to swap its own smartphone software for Microsoft's Windows Phone.

Digia said it planned to make Qt available for making applications for Apple's iOS platform, Google's Android and Microsoft Windows 8.

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