Fact: Lumia Devices Made by Microsoft Could Still be Branded as Nokias

Ever since Microsoft announced that it will be buying out Nokia's handset division there has been questions on why Microsoft didn't pay extra to use the Nokia brand name on it's Lumia devices. While Nokia hasn't been a top tier player in the mobile sales space recently it doesn't mean that the Nokia name stopped carrying weight. Now it seems that Microsoft may be reconsidering it's non Nokia branding stand.

This is according to an interview done with Chris Weber Nokia’s EVP for Sales and Marketing by Nokia's official blog Nokia Conversations.

NC: How about the Nokia brand on the phones. Having it printed on there? A lot of readers care about that.

CW: In factual terms, Microsoft intends to buy the right to use the Nokia brand on its phones for ten years.

There's a commitment now that this will happen for the Asha and feature phones business going forward.

On smartphones, it's more complicated and we'll be seeking to create a unified brand across Lumia and other Windows based devices. But we're still a long way from when that decision has to be made.

While this is not a hard commitment by Microsoft to keep the Nokia name on Lumia devices it is a softening of their previous statement that Lumia devices would not carry Lumia branding. If Microsoft does opt to put the Nokia name on it's Lumia devices it will benefit them greatly and help ensure brand loyalty to their product. They only downside is that Nokia (what is left of it) is allowed to starting selling Nokia brand smartphones in 2016 again and this may confuse some consumers if Nokia would choose to do so. However since all of the mobile brain trust is going to Microsoft I don't see them doing that and simply choosing to reinvent themselves as a company once again.