Windows Phones To Be Named "Microsoft Lumia"

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October 21, 2014 2:46 PM

Windows Phone hardware will now be called "Windows Lumia" going forward, dropping the Nokia brand name.

From now on, there will be no more confusion about who is making first-party Windows Phone hardware going forward, because they will be called "Microsoft Lumia" devices.

This comes after a long and complicated relationship that first involved just a close partnership with Nokia handling hardware duties, and then Microsoft acquiring Nokia's phone-making business during what appeared to be a fairly acrimonious separation.

According to The Verge, the rebranding will begin in France, then move around the world from there, and will apply across product branding, social media accounts and all online presence.

Nokia, the company, will continue to operate separately as a mapping and network tech concern, and tech newsrooms everywhere will breathe a sigh of relief as they can stop asking "wait, which Nokia are you talking about?" when discussing stories.

This development however, does not come as a surprise since Microsoft named its hardware division the same thing as the company that it secured it from was untenable, for any number of reasons, and MS has previously admitted it would be transitioning away from the Nokia moniker.

Using the Lumia name makes a lot of sense as a replacement, because it was unique to Windows Phone devices from the beginning, but has also been around long enough now to have some brand recognition, even if it's only a fraction of the legacy brand presence enjoyed by Nokia.

Expect a big branding push once this transition begins in earnest, as Microsoft tries to append the new (old) name to its mobile platform in people's minds and supplant the Nokia memories.

Culled from TechCrunch

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