After seven months of hammering out the details, Microsoft’s £3.2bn takeover of Nokia will finally be completed this Friday – and with that takeover comes a name change.
Up until now, the fallen Finnish giant has traded under the name of Nokia Oyj. From now on its name will be Microsoft Mobile Oy. A leaked letter sent out to suppliers stated that “Microsoft Mobile Oy is the legal entity name that should be used for VAT IDs and for the issuance of invoices”.
Obviously that sounds pretty conclusive, and from a business perspective makes a good deal of sense, but what about the retail side of things? Will Nokia phones still bear the Nokia name? Or will we be seeing the Microsoft Mobile Lumia from now on?
Microsoft could do well to try to maintain the Nokia brand – it may not be the biggest name in phones anymore, but it’s a familiar one. Microsoft has already taken on former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop to curate their brand, which should ensure a good level of continuity. Just what Elop has in store remains to be seen (he’s even hinted in the past that we could soon see the end of the Lumia line).