Microsoft officially announced today that the Nokia branding will not be used in conjunction with its future Windows Phones. The software giant will sell its upcoming smartphones as Microsoft Lumias. However, it will continue to make use of Nokia's name for dumb phones.
The tech media may act surprised, but, in fact, we have known that this was bound to happen for more than a year. In early-September 2013, when the sale of Nokia's Devices & Services to Microsoft was announced, the terms revealed that the software giant would eventually have to drop the Nokia branding.
"Microsoft has agreed to a 10 year license arrangement with Nokia to use the Nokia brand on current Mobile Phones products. Nokia will continue to own and maintain the Nokia brand. Under the terms of the transaction, Microsoft has agreed to a 10 year license arrangement with Nokia to use the Nokia brand on current and subsequently developed products based on the Series 30 and Series 40 operating systems", specifies the sale announcement.
This move also involves other transitions, like social media accounts, international sites (and local ones as well), app names and so on which Microsoft will take under its umbrella. Soon, everything Lumia-related will be linked exclusively to Microsoft, which makes lots of sense in the long run as the use of Nokia's branding would have been short-lived anyway for Windows Phones (it is highly unlikely Nokia would have granted Microsoft a license with no expiration date).
Microsoft just revealed that Lumia sales for Q3 2014 reached 9.3 million units, besting the number of units sold a year ago; then, Nokia sold 8.8 million Lumias. The impact that this change may have over sales should be minimal, given the already low volume of units sold during the past quarter.