Nokia is going through a transformation period and if collaborating with Microsoft was not enough, the company has now decided to
draw curtains on its 'Ovi' brand. Nokia will be phasing out 'Ovi' gradually, starting from July 2011 and the entire process is likely to be completed by 2012. No prizes for guessing the new moniker, it's 'Nokia Services', oh how original and exciting!
Apparently, the Finnish company is planning to streamline all its products and services under 'Nokia' brand. The company's chief marketing officer and EVP Jerri DeVard claimed that Nokia "is a well-known and highly-loved brand the world over." Well, the company might be losing its prominence in the mobile phone segment, but still it is a name people do recognize all over the world.
The move seems to be the product of Nokia-Microsoft collaboration deal. There are some rumors suggesting that Ovi Maps may now get integrated with Bing Maps. Microsoft, on its part said, "Bing Maps has utilised Nokia content for road data, geo-coding and routing services for several years"¦The Nokia/MS partnership will enable deeper collaboration in the future.” The deal has not garnered positive reviews from the industry, but looks like both the companies just could not care any less about consensus opinion. Nokia's WP7 phones are expected to make their debut in 2012. So, we yet have to wait for a long time to see how this unholy matrimony pans out.
Nokia also made a point to emphasize that it is not closing down the services and is merely changing the titles. So, if you end up buying a Nokia phone later this year, then you won't find any trace of Ovi on that phone. As for the phones already in the market, software updates will take care of branding issues.