With Microsoft having acquired Nokia’s Devices and Services business unit in April, the company has begun to retire the Nokia brand in favour of new Microsoft-centric branding. The first move in that direction appears to be the retirement of the Nokia.com site. The Nokia UK team today tweeted that they have “moved to a new home,” a new Microsoft Mobile Devices website that launched today:
We’ve moved to a new home! Everything you need to know about #Lumia is here now: http://t.co/IVlf3xiBbQ 🙂 pic.twitter.com/0Z7QgJuhJK
— Lumia UK (@LumiaUK) September 19, 2014
It appears that the move will happen gradually with Nokia UK being the first. For example both the US’ Nokia.com and Canada’s Nokia.ca sites still operate as they have since the acquisition. Whereas the new UK Microsoft Mobile Devices website lists a range of Lumia devices, the U.S. one only shows the Lumia 730. It’s not clear when other countries will move over to the new site. As for the old Nokia GB site, it remains up and running but much of it simply redirects to the new site now.
Microsoft is expected to continue using the Lumia brand as the brand for its mobile devices but has confirmed that it will phase out the Nokia brand despite some signs to the contrary back in June. Other rumours suggest that it will drop the “Windows Phone” brand in favour of the simpler “Windows” one but current devices still show the former. It may well be that the new branding will only take effect with the next generation of Lumia devices.
Sources : The Verge // Microsoft Mobile Devices // Nokia UK