Microsoft confirms it is dropping the Nokia name from Lumia smartphones as it starts transitioning its branding from "Nokia Lumia" to "Microsoft Lumia" on apps, websites, social media and marketing materials.
The move should come to no surprise, as Nokia Windows Phone apps have already been rebranded to Lumia.
"Lumia is now part of a compelling family of Microsoft products like Xbox, Windows and Surface along with a range of services such as Skype, Office and Bing," Microsoft SVP of market for phones Tuula Rytilä says. Rytilä also reveals an unspecified Microsoft Lumia device will be announced "soon."
For the curious, the branding on future Lumia products features the Microsoft name and a plain black version of the company's four-squared logo.
The September 2013 $7.2 billion Microsoft acquisition of the Nokia handset business also covered a 10-year license for the Nokia brand-- but it seems the brand has all but lost its value with consumers. After all, Windows Phone remains a tiny mobile player compared to iOS and Android, even if Microsoft still hopes low end WP devices will prove popular in emerging markets.
Either way, it seems the recently announced Nokia Lumia 730 and 830 smartphones, together with low-end handsets such as the Nokia 130, will be last phones bearing the name of what was once the Finnish mobile titan.
