
Microsoft is killing the Nokia and Windows Phone brands - LukeB_UK
http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/10/6131695/microsoft-is-killing-the-nokia-and-windows-phone-brands
======
sirkneeland
Nokia employee here.

Microsoft doesn't have a choice whether they want to "kill the Nokia brand"
(that is, remove it from Lumia handsets). They have to. It's part of the terms
of the sale of the Devices division.

It's our brand and we'd like it back.

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DanielStraight
Correction: They're going to keep doing exactly what they were doing before
except instead of saying "Windows Phone" they're going to just say "Windows"
and they aren't going to say "Nokia" anymore.

Not news.

~~~
brazzy
Yeah, you'd have to pretty damn high on marketing kool-aid to think that
dropping the "Phone" from the brand name is somehow a Big Thing.

~~~
WorldWideWayne
I think the Big Thing is not the naming itself, but what is being signaled by
it.

If Microsoft can actually pull it off, I think a single OS that works well
enough on all form factors could be awesome. I imagine writing native apps
that are responsive like the web apps we have today.

(I'll never use or endorse it if I can't side-load apps though! There's no way
I'm moving into any kind of walled-garden.)

~~~
Touche
Calling 2 different things the same thing does not change that they are
different things.

~~~
at-fates-hands
Unless you're not referring to the things at all - but a convergent platform.

Huge difference. The only issue is getting consumers to buy in on the idea.

~~~
Touche
"convergent platform" is just buzz-speak. What I said before is still true.

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walterbell
The Nokia smartphone brand reverts to Finland's Nokia in early 2016,
[http://seekingalpha.com/article/1679612-a-glimmer-of-hope-
fo...](http://seekingalpha.com/article/1679612-a-glimmer-of-hope-for-a-nokia-
comeback-as-a-smartphone-producer-in-2016)

------
relaxatorium
It's a very Microsoft move to drop the word which is what the product is and
keep the word which is a UX element the product does not have.

I get it as a pure branding exercise if you just think about what Microsoft
brands have equity and history, but it still strikes me as funny in terms of
what the words actually mean.

~~~
bunderbunder
As a pure branding exercise it seems like an insane, sycophantic, shortsighted
move.

Having all your products share exactly the same brand accomplishes two things:
Customers get confused, and any one of your products has the ability to do
serious harm to the reputation of all of your products.

~~~
pionar
> Having all your products share exactly the same brand accomplishes two
> things

Except they're not. "Windows" is the OS, "Lumia" is the phone.

I see it as unifying it under a common name. Windows from phone to PC to
server, it's familiar. Hence why no more "Windows RT". It's all Windows. The
only difference is in the server line, it's "Windows Server 2012", but that's
a different market.

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robomartin
Microsoft continues to fail miserably on one very important front: Marketing

If I were in charge I'd fire the ENTIRE marketing department and start fresh.
They have lost the tangible sense you need in order to understand your
customers and communicate with them. Much like when UPS decided to almost ruin
a brand recognized world over by launching a campaign that re-branded them as
"brown". What an absolutely clueless move!

Microsoft examples abound. From commercials with people dancing around a table
snapping magnetic keyboards on and off a device to "Cortana" (WTF!), a name
only a mother could love and want to say all day long.

I am disappointed because they have a lot to offer. They just don't seem to
have a clue as to how to make the right decisions any more. Please fire
everyone and hire me as your benevolent dictator. Almost anyone could do
better.

~~~
IanDrake
To riff off that:

.net - A bad name and it was impossible to search for information in the early
days.

SkyDrive - Great name...but oops already trademarked.

Live.com - Makes no sense.

Bing.com - See Live.com.

~~~
eli
Does "ebay" or "amazon" or "google" make sense?

~~~
slouch
At least for ebay and google, these names held no previous definition. Live,
bing and amazon are all words that meant something before they became brand
names.

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matthewarkin
"All this recent evidence led us to speculate whether Microsoft is simply
planning to just use Windows for its brand in the future, and that appears to
be the case"

Is speculation really necessary? Microsoft seems to have publicly announced
"One Windows." And for those not really following Windows Phone and Threshold
(Windows 9), the future seems to be an OS that adapts to the device you're on.
If you're on a phone, a Phone app appears, large enough screen, the desktop
becomes available, etc.

------
dirtyaura
Much more interesting is to speculate if and when the old Nokia releases a new
phone, say an Android model. There is probably contractual "rusty handcuffs"
period of 2-4 years that prevents it, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have
skunkworks projects already. Of course, a lot of factories and supply chains
are gone, but know-how and contact networks would make it possible to
bootstrap it again.

~~~
walterbell
A Jolla speculator, [http://followingjolla.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-small-
print-t...](http://followingjolla.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-small-print-three-
ways-nokia-can.html)

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zmmmmm
This smells a bit of a slighty dangerous throwback to the "windows everywhere"
days where Microsoft tied everything into Windows. It makes me wonder if they
understand that the Windows brand itself is a liability moving forward. Nokia
had the same problem - just like "Nokia" had become synonymous with "dumb
phone" in the consumer's mind, so too has Windows become associated with
"legacy business computer at work that I hate". I feel that if Microsoft wants
to succeed they need to chart a future that succeeds without being chained to
something with such strong associations in people's minds - even for those for
whom it is a good association, _it is the wrong association_.

------
BigChiefSmokem
Surface. Xbox. Windows.

Those three should be the _only_ brand ids, and long term I would start
replacing the Windows brand with the Surface brand.

~~~
jisaacks
I don't understand the surface branding either. When I hear Microsoft Surface
I still think of those table tops.

~~~
theoutlander
Exactly. The only reason the used that for the tablet's is because they
couldn't really sell Surface and ended up reusing some of that tech/team in
the tablet.

------
theoutlander
Some reason for the past week I have this itch to switch completely to Apple!
Starting with the new iPhone I will be dropping my windows phone. Followed by
an iPad to replace the Surface v1 (big fail!). Already own a macbook pro with
Windows, so I will simply switch over to OS X. Dropping C# in favor of
NodeJS/Yeoman/Sails.

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smegel
I really wonder what would have happened if Nokia had jumped onto Android
early.

Sad day.

~~~
Mikeb85
Or put more effort into Meego - which actually was a very good OS, and the N9
which was a great product. Adopting Windows phone was the nail in the
coffin...

~~~
seanflyon
I think that adopting Windows phone came with a pile of money, so it's hard to
weigh the pros and cons without more information.

~~~
Mikeb85
At the time Nokia already had a pile of money.

The N9 was highly anticipated, and IMO, a resounding success. But the fact
Stephen Elop said it would be the first, last, and only Meego device made it
DOA. And of course, the Windows phones weren't well received...

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programminggeek
Now, just make the phones Surface phones and they'll be some coherent branding
around their mobile efforts.

~~~
theoutlander
Good idea, but it doesn't roll as well...

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higherpurpose
And Windows Phone was never to be heard from again (in whichever way you want
to take it).

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yournemesis
"In fact, Microsoft refers to Windows Phone simply as Windows."

What?

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milesf
Hey, why don't they call it the Kin? Or PocketPC? </sarcasm>

