Microsoft Pulls Nokia Name From Lumia 520 Smartphone
Microsoft is acquiring Nokia’s mobile business, effectively ending any possibility that Nokia Lumia phones might someday run Android, and the Redmond-based company is wasting no time in rebranding the line of handsets currently bearing the name “Nokia”.
According to a photo dug up by IBtimes, a UK advertisement from Microsoft for the Nokia Lumia 520 shows that the “Nokia” name that’s usually centered at the top of the phone is gone. Otherwise, it’s identical to a Nokia Lumia 520 product photo that’s been around for a while.
Credit: Twitter/Brian Robertson via IBtimes
A Nokia spokesperson clarified the branding somewhat by saying, "Microsoft would be able to the use Nokia name on Mobile Phones products. Our Mobile Phones team makes Nokia feature phones and Nokia Asha smartphones, whereas the Lumia products are made by the Smart Devices team and those would not carry the Nokia name." In other words, Nokia will lose control over the “Lumia” brand name.
If Nokia going all-in with Microsoft as the flagship maker of Windows Phones was a big bet, this one is even bigger. After all, at some point Nokia could always have bailed (which rumors indicate was a possibility); now that Microsoft is buying that wing of Nokia for a breathtaking $7.2 billion, it’s Microsoft that’s making the monster gamble.
Microsoft has not been particularly successful on the hardware side of things, and Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 have seen minimal success (while Windows RT was a flat-out disaster). Apparently the higher-ups at Microsoft believe in Windows Phone enough to spend that kind of cash.
According to a photo dug up by IBtimes, a UK advertisement from Microsoft for the Nokia Lumia 520 shows that the “Nokia” name that’s usually centered at the top of the phone is gone. Otherwise, it’s identical to a Nokia Lumia 520 product photo that’s been around for a while.
Credit: Twitter/Brian Robertson via IBtimes
A Nokia spokesperson clarified the branding somewhat by saying, "Microsoft would be able to the use Nokia name on Mobile Phones products. Our Mobile Phones team makes Nokia feature phones and Nokia Asha smartphones, whereas the Lumia products are made by the Smart Devices team and those would not carry the Nokia name." In other words, Nokia will lose control over the “Lumia” brand name.
If Nokia going all-in with Microsoft as the flagship maker of Windows Phones was a big bet, this one is even bigger. After all, at some point Nokia could always have bailed (which rumors indicate was a possibility); now that Microsoft is buying that wing of Nokia for a breathtaking $7.2 billion, it’s Microsoft that’s making the monster gamble.
Microsoft has not been particularly successful on the hardware side of things, and Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 have seen minimal success (while Windows RT was a flat-out disaster). Apparently the higher-ups at Microsoft believe in Windows Phone enough to spend that kind of cash.
