Last year when Microsoft bought Nokia for $7.2 billion, outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had termed it as “a bold step into the future.”. As per the deal, Microsoft had bought the services and hardware division, along with tons of patents and the brand Nokia as well.
As per the deal, Microsoft had licensed the brand name Nokia for low-end mobile phones, and had plans to use the name Nokia for a period of 10 years.
In April this year, we had speculated that Microsoft will not wait that long, and by the time this year ends, Microsoft will officially rechristen the brand Nokia with Microsoft, and now, this has been officially made a reality.
In a blog post written by Tiina Jaatinen, who is the editor-in-chief of the official Nokia blog, it has been declared that the brand name Nokia will be killed forever, and all future phones from Microsoft will be branded as Microsoft Lumia.
The transition will not take place in one single go, as Nokia mobiles are sold in more than 120 countries all over the world. In the first phase of rechristening, all European countries will be targeted, and Nokia France has already started the operations.
In a Facebook post shared by Nokia France, they have already big farewell to Nokia, and welcomed Microsoft Lumia. As per their post, which is now deleted, they had mentioned that they will soon change their official name to Microsoft Lumia, and say good bye to Nokia.
Here is a cached version of the post:
In English translation, the above message means.
In the coming days, you will receive a message from Facebook about changing the name of this page.
We are on the verge of becoming “Microsoft Lumia!”
Stay-tuned for more information soon …
In India, the official change of branding will take place by the end of year, as after Europe, they are planning to cover US, Canada and then Asia.
Hence, the last Nokia phones would be Nokia Lumia 730 and 830, which Microsoft had announced last month.
Nokia provides technological platform and support for several apps such as mapping tool: Here, where the name Nokia will be continued to use. Additionally, there exists various ongoing telecom and hardware projects, where Nokia will be continued to use.
Microsoft would now aim to increase their share in smartphone market, and make it more than dismal 2.5% which it currently controls. Android based smartphones are their biggest competitors, and they have a long way to go from here.
RIP Nokia. All the best Microsoft Lumia!
