D: All Things Digital, The Wall Street Journal technology conference, is in full swing in Southern California.

Shares of Microsoft ( MSFT ) have been under pressure this morning, and one thing appearing to contribute to downturn are rumors the company would step in to purchase Nokia ( NOK ) for $19 billion, according to remarks by Eldar Murtazin , a blogger widely credited with scooping Microsoft’s deal with Nokia earlier this year. Murtazin’s blog appears not to have that claim today, but he is cited as stating such by Todd Haselton in a piece this morning on BoyGeniusReport . A Nokia spokesperson, however, tells The Wall Street Journal’s Christopher Lawton a short while ago that, “These rumors are completely baseless.” Murtazin has speculated as recently as May 16th that the two companies were talking about a deal

Shares of Research in Motion ( RIMM ) are taking it on the chin this morning, down $2.60, or 6%, at $40.25, as analysts continue to ponder the implications for the company following Nokia’s ( NOK ) reduced outlook yesterday. As I wrote yesterday , some analysts see opportunity for RIM in Nokia’s flagging sales, but there’s also a concern Nokia’s turmoil at the hands of Android-based phones could be an omen for RIM as well.

Nokia ( NOK ) shares continue to fall this morning as the downgrades pour in following the company’s cut in its outlook yesterday. I count three downgrades today, in all, from Goldman Sachs , Sanford Bernstein , and Canaccord Genuity . As I wrote following that announcement , the bears warned that the worst may not yet be over in terms of the deterioration of the existing business, and that the partnership to develop phones with Microsoft ( MSFT ) still carries risk.

Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek this morning seeks to allay fears of a gross profit erosion at Apple ( AAPL ), writing that “concerns on serious gross margin deterioration are overdone,” and reiterating a Buy rating and a $500 price target.

Shares of videoconferencing technology maker Polycom ( PLCM ) are up $1.34, or 2%, at $58.75, after the company this morning said it would purchase from Hewlett-Packard ( HPQ ) the company’s “visual computing” assets for $89 million, to add to Polycom’s unified communications business. The HP products have not been part of the main segments of HP’s business — the personal systems group, services, enterprise, software, and imaging and printing. Instead, they have been contained within the segment of the business dubbed “ Corporate Investments ,” which also contains the company’s networking equipment products, and its Palm computer assets

Following word from Apple ( AAPL ) yesterday morning that the company will discuss its “ iCloud ” initiative next week at its Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, Sterne Agee’s Shaw Wu this morning writes that the service is “a very big deal,” with the potential to further enhance the utility of the company’s iTunes program. “We believe reaching cloud music deals would be a great start and further distance AAPL from GOOG, AMZN, MSFT, and others, which in the last 10 years or so have failed to put even a minor dent to iTunes.” Wu maintains a Buy rating on Apple shares and a $460 price target.

ISI Group’s Abhey Lamba this afternoon writes that Apple ‘s ( AAPL ) iPhone, as well as the constellation of Google ( GOOG ) “ Android ” -powered smartphones, should both see stronger Q2 results as Nokia’s ( NOK ) phone business suffers .

RBC Capital’s Mike Abramsky , who has a Sector Perform rating on shares of Research in Motion ( RIMM ), and a $53.45 price target, writes that the deterioration of Nokia ‘s ( NOK ) business, expressed in Nokia’s financial update this morning, could present opportunity for RIM. With 16% market share in Europe, RIM “has the opportunity to replicate the success that BBM [the BlackBerry messenger software] has had in the U.K.,” where RIM has the top spot in smartphones with 24% share

More commentary is coming in as regards Nokia’ s ( NOK ) cut in its outlook this morning , with bears warning that things will get worse before they get better. It’s not just the continued deterioration of the Symbian-based phones, but also some risk still in the company’s ability to make its partnership with Microsoft ( MSFT ) pay off: Jennifer Fritzsche, Wells Fargo: Reiterates a Market Weight rating on Nokia, while cutting her range of possible stock values to $6.90 to $7.40, from a prior $9 to $10. “While NOK has continued to say that 2011 is a transition year, we believe today’s announcement highlights how quickly the shift is occurring in the competitive environment