Nokia no more
October 22, 2014
Microsoft is to ditch the Nokia brand less than a year after acquiring the Finnish mobile firm. New Nokia Lumia smartphones will instead by 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.
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.
The bulk of recently announced staff cuts, around 12,500, will be from staff taken on after the Nokia acquisition.