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Microsoft is killing the Nokia and Windows Phone brands
- milesf 12y agoHey, why don't they call it the Kin? Or PocketPC? </sarcasm>
- matthewarkin 12y ago"All this recent evidence led us to speculate whether Microsoft is simply planning to just use Windows for its brand in the future, and that appears to be the case" Is speculation really necessary? Microsoft seems to have publicly announced "One Windows." And for those not really following Windows Phone and Threshold (Windows 9), the future seems to be an OS that adapts to the device you're on. If you're on a phone, a Phone app appears, large enough screen, the desktop becomes available, etc.
- DanielStraight 12y agoCorrection: They're going to keep doing exactly what they were doing before except instead of saying "Windows Phone" they're going to just say "Windows" and they aren't going to say "Nokia" anymore. Not news.
- brazzy 12y agoYeah, you'd have to pretty damn high on marketing kool-aid to think that dropping the "Phone" from the brand name is somehow a Big Thing.
- WorldWideWayne 12y agoI think the Big Thing is not the naming itself, but what is being signaled by it. If Microsoft can actually pull it off, I think a single OS that works well enough on all form factors could be awesome. I imagine writing native apps that are responsive like the web apps we have today. (I'll never use or endorse it if I can't side-load apps though! There's no way I'm moving into any kind of walled-garden.)
- worklogin 12y agoTIL what sideloading means. "Installation from arbitrary locations, like we've done for most of computing history".
- marssaxman 12y agoI was similarly confused when people started talking about "AOT compilation". Turns out that just means "compiling things from source code, like we've done for most of computing history", as opposed to shipping bytecode and compiling it when you're ready to run it.
- Touche 12y agoCalling 2 different things the same thing does not change that they are different things.
- at-fates-hands 12y agoUnless you're not referring to the things at all - but a convergent platform. Huge difference. The only issue is getting consumers to buy in on the idea.
- Touche 12y ago"convergent platform" is just buzz-speak. What I said before is still true.
- thinkling 12y agoWhere previously the Windows CE-derived OS shared little more than APIs with desktop Windows, since Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, there's actual sharing of core components. See e.g., http://j4ni.com/blog/?p=107 http://j4ni.com/blog/?p=107
- keypusher 12y agoThis is what they attempted to do with Windows 7, unify the interface with the tiled approach, and people hated it. In fact they hated it so much MS had to revert the changes. Still, if you look at the most recent versions of Visual Studio (ie. "Visual Studio Express for Windows" is separate from "Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop") and the .net framework, they are clearly aiming to get to a place with a single dev kit for both platforms. edit: Windows 8, not 7
- waps 12y agoIt is a big thing for the decision makers inside Microsoft. Windows phone had it's own executive, who are now no longer a threat to the remaining executives. What I've noticed about commercials is that when it comes to non-founder companies (companies no longer controlled by their founders), is that the target of the commercials is not really customers. It's the management, and sometimes, their "bosses", investors. An example is the countless "we're no 1" commercials. Nobody goes and touts their products or services actual advantages, or even goes so far as simply saying they're the "best". Best would matter to customers. No 1 tells you something about sales figure (and is easy to fake), and why would customers care about sales figures (except in extreme cases) ? The message here is simply that there's a management change, and this is big news and to be celebrated, political foes have been slain, new victors have been chosen and crowned, this is a victory to be shouted off of roofs everywhere, because that's what people who decided to push this message feel.
- IanDrake 12y ago> and why would customers care about sales figures (except in extreme cases) ? Because most people go with the crowd. Conformity isn't as popular in the tech crowd as it is in the main stream.
- fsloth 12y agoYep. This is a studied psychological phenomenon. People tend to prefer options they believe other people are choosing. A.k.a social proof. (ref. Goldstein et. all: Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive)
- seanflyon 12y agoAlso people want to go where the developers are and developers want to be where the most people are.
- brazzy 12y agoI think you're spot on: be it marketing- or management-driven, this announcement was made for the sake of the announcers, not the readers.
- robert_tweed 12y agoI misread your comment, but do think "Bing Thing" would make an interesting brand.
- digikata 12y agoIt reminds me a little of the time Microsoft marketing went crazy and stamped the ".Net" brand moniker on just about any product they could.
- jeffbarr 12y agoAnd a while before that, everything was "Active"...
- epochwolf 12y agoAs a counter point, Apple has a habit of labeling products with i- and labeling software libraries with -Kit.
- flyinghamster 12y agoIndeed, when I first heard of "Healthkit" I misread it as "Heathkit" even though Apple is pretty much the antithesis of Heathkit.
- UVB-76 12y agoApple have been fairly consistent; the 'i' prefix has been synonymous with Apple since the iPod in 2001. Microsoft chop and change brands all the time, often in ways that are confusing to the consumer and damaging to the business.
- zeckalpha 12y agoiMac, 1998.
- UVB-76 12y agoNoted, but the iPod (and iTunes, also 2001) is what made Apple (and the 'i' prefix) a household name, and paved the way for everything that followed.
- theoutlander 12y ago
- walterbell 12y agoThe Nokia smartphone brand reverts to Finland's Nokia in early 2016, http://seekingalpha.com/article/1679612-a-glimmer-of-hope-for-a-nokia-comeback-as-a-smartphone-producer-in-2016 http://seekingalpha.com/article/1679612-a-glimmer-of-hope-fo...
- BigChiefSmokem 12y agoSurface. Xbox. Windows. Those three should be the only brand ids, and long term I would start replacing the Windows brand with the Surface brand.
- jisaacks 12y agoI don't understand the surface branding either. When I hear Microsoft Surface I still think of those table tops.
- theoutlander 12y agoExactly. The only reason the used that for the tablet's is because they couldn't really sell Surface and ended up reusing some of that tech/team in the tablet.
- robomartin 12y agoMicrosoft continues to fail miserably on one very important front: Marketing If I were in charge I'd fire the ENTIRE marketing department and start fresh. They have lost the tangible sense you need in order to understand your customers and communicate with them. Much like when UPS decided to almost ruin a brand recognized world over by launching a campaign that re-branded them as "brown". What an absolutely clueless move! Microsoft examples abound. From commercials with people dancing around a table snapping magnetic keyboards on and off a device to "Cortana" (WTF!), a name only a mother could love and want to say all day long. I am disappointed because they have a lot to offer. They just don't seem to have a clue as to how to make the right decisions any more. Please fire everyone and hire me as your benevolent dictator. Almost anyone could do better.
- vetinari 12y agoCome on, do you really think that the marketing department at Microsoft (or other company of similar size) is in charge? Strategy is being decided by their higher-ups, only details of operations are on them.
- seivan 12y agoSame thing applies to most software I write. Strategy, ideas and decisions are from higher ups. Far away from implementation.
- vetinari 12y agoThank you. That's exactly the point. Most people see something similar at their own job. Why is it a stretch of imagination to think, that other departments are in the same position as yours?
- seivan 12y agoI thought Cortana was a brilliant idea, and a nice touch. Halo has served Microsoft very well, it's an extension to that. Just my take on it.
- IanDrake 12y ago
- higherpurpose 12y agoAnd Windows Phone was never to be heard from again (in whichever way you want to take it).
- relaxatorium 12y agoIt's a very Microsoft move to drop the word which is what the product is and keep the word which is a UX element the product does not have. I get it as a pure branding exercise if you just think about what Microsoft brands have equity and history, but it still strikes me as funny in terms of what the words actually mean.
- drivingmenuts 12y agoSo, now it'll be even easier to confuse Windows (the desktop OS) with Windows (the touch-based OS) even though, in theory, they have nothing to do with one another? Apple has two different names (OS X and iOS) despite similar APIs and no one seems to have any trouble differentiating those. Maybe Microsoft could at least steal that idea.
- efiftythree 12y agoThe vast majority of users will not have to worry about the distinction between versions. They will be using what they perceive as Windows. When they pick up a tablet running Windows it will be Windows and when they sit at their desktop or laptop they will be using Windows and when they pick up their phone it will be Windows. Add in the universal apps and you have even less confusions when a user can move from Desktop/Laptop to Tablet to Phone to XBOX and use the same app. So, basically, the theory that they have nothing to do with one another is not looking at the entire ecosystem.
- TheOtherHobbes 12y agoWell - apart from the fact that Windows 9 is rumored to have the old UI for desktop PCs and the new tiled UI and app store for devices. Users will never be able to move from trad PC to tablet to phone to Xbox. The hardware ecosystems, UI models and user requirements are just too different. IMO it's nonsensical to pretend otherwise. The Apple approach of creating fundamentally different operating systems with significant convergence and overlap while also simplifying interaction and data exchange looks like a much more intelligent solution.
- 12y ago
- smegel 12y agoI really wonder what would have happened if Nokia had jumped onto Android early. Sad day.
- Mikeb85 12y agoOr put more effort into Meego - which actually was a very good OS, and the N9 which was a great product. Adopting Windows phone was the nail in the coffin...
- pm90 12y agoOr not hired Elop. Whats he upto now anyways?
- seanflyon 12y agoI think that adopting Windows phone came with a pile of money, so it's hard to weigh the pros and cons without more information.
- Mikeb85 12y agoAt the time Nokia already had a pile of money. The N9 was highly anticipated, and IMO, a resounding success. But the fact Stephen Elop said it would be the first, last, and only Meego device made it DOA. And of course, the Windows phones weren't well received...
- auxbuss 12y agoI tried to tell them: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1727208 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1727208 Nokia had systemic problems that were clear to anyone working with them.
- dirtyaura 12y agoMuch more interesting is to speculate if and when the old Nokia releases a new phone, say an Android model. There is probably contractual "rusty handcuffs" period of 2-4 years that prevents it, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have skunkworks projects already. Of course, a lot of factories and supply chains are gone, but know-how and contact networks would make it possible to bootstrap it again.
- walterbell 12y agoA Jolla speculator, http://followingjolla.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-small-print-three-ways-nokia-can.html http://followingjolla.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-small-print-t...
- programminggeek 12y agoNow, just make the phones Surface phones and they'll be some coherent branding around their mobile efforts.
- theoutlander 12y agoGood idea, but it doesn't roll as well...
- sirkneeland 12y agoNokia employee here. Microsoft doesn't have a choice whether they want to "kill the Nokia brand" (that is, remove it from Lumia handsets). They have to. It's part of the terms of the sale of the Devices division. It's our brand and we'd like it back.
- zmmmmm 12y agoThis smells a bit of a slighty dangerous throwback to the "windows everywhere" days where Microsoft tied everything into Windows. It makes me wonder if they understand that the Windows brand itself is a liability moving forward. Nokia had the same problem - just like "Nokia" had become synonymous with "dumb phone" in the consumer's mind, so too has Windows become associated with "legacy business computer at work that I hate". I feel that if Microsoft wants to succeed they need to chart a future that succeeds without being chained to something with such strong associations in people's minds - even for those for whom it is a good association, it is the wrong association.
- yournemesis 12y ago"In fact, Microsoft refers to Windows Phone simply as Windows." What?
- theoutlander 12y agoSome reason for the past week I have this itch to switch completely to Apple! Starting with the new iPhone I will be dropping my windows phone. Followed by an iPad to replace the Surface v1 (big fail!). Already own a macbook pro with Windows, so I will simply switch over to OS X. Dropping C# in favor of NodeJS/Yeoman/Sails.