Microsoft is ditching the Nokia brand name from new devices, less than a year after acquiring the Finnish mobile firm, reports BBC Online. New Nokia Lumia smartphones will instead be known as Microsoft Lumia, the company said. Nokia’s non-mobile division, which is not owned by Microsoft, will continue to use the name. The mobile operation was bought by Microsoft in April in a deal worth $7.2 billion.
Since then, Microsoft has quietly shifted away from the Nokia brand.
A post on Nokia France’s Facebook page confirmed the branding shift. The renaming will roll out globally in due course, Microsoft has said.
The announcement comes despite Microsoft agreeing to a 10-year deal to use the Nokia name on mobile products.
Microsoft is currently having a big shake-up. In July, chief executive Satya Nadella announced the cutting of 18,000 jobs.
The bulk of the cuts, around 12,500, will be from staff taken on after the Nokia acquisition.
-With New Age input
