Windows Phone fans have been watching over the course of the last few months the slow demise of the Nokia name. Nobody should be surprised by this given that Nokia is now simply a division of Microsoft but still, there is a bit of nostalgia in the name given many, many of us owned a Nokia branded phone at some point in our lives. Now the transition is nearly complete with Microsoft announcing today that the Nokia Lumia name will be disappearing from Windows Phones and the new Microsoft Lumia name will begin to be used going forward. The elimination of the Nokia name doesn’t stop there as Nokia named social network accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram will all be changed from Nokia-whatever to Microsoft-whatever or Lumia-whatever.
The moving away from the Nokia name really started with the rebranding of apps in the Windows Phone store. Apps like Nokia
Now the Microsoft Lumia 635
Panoramic and Storyteller are now Lumia Panoramic and Storyteller. That will continue until all the apps are rebranded and any new apps, such as the Lumia Selfie app, will start life branded as Lumia. But the Microsoft Lumia change is a bit bigger than just eliminating the Nokia name. This is a fundamental shift in how Microsoft is going to market with their phones. Indeed it is entirely possible that we will see the name Windows Phone go away in favor of simply Windows as Microsoft tries to convey the one OS for all devices.
All of these changes along with the continual, steady development of Windows Phone as a platform, points to a new sense of direction and optimism for the Little OS That Could. With the new Cloud and Mobile centric vision that Microsoft has under the leadership of Nadella, it only seems fitting that everything be unified under Microsoft and under Windows.
While it is sad to see the Nokia name nearing its end, it is also a point of excitement for what Microsoft has in store for the Microsoft Lumia devices and Windows Phone platform.
