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Microsoft Businesses Cellphones

Microsoft Killing Off Windows Phone Brand Name In Favor of Just Windows 352

DroidJason1 writes Microsoft is killing off the "Windows Phone" name in favor of Windows. The company also plans to drop the "Nokia" name from handsets in favor of just "Lumia." These details were revealed in a leaked memo. We've already begun seeing these changes in recent advertisements from Microsoft and it makes perfect sense seeing as how Microsoft is shifting towards one operating system to rule them all.
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Microsoft Killing Off Windows Phone Brand Name In Favor of Just Windows

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  • by l0ungeb0y ( 442022 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @03:39PM (#47884019) Homepage Journal
    In favor of "Blatant Attempt at Ripping-Off the Apple Store" Not as catchy, but accurate
    • by NoNonAlphaCharsHere ( 2201864 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @03:57PM (#47884231)
      Microsoft has been killing off the Windows Phone brand name for years now -- by releasing Windows Phones.
      • Has someone tried to verify the original story and check that Windows Phones are a real product? If they were actually being sold I'm pretty sure I'd have seen someone using one by now.
  • Good decision? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dontbemad ( 2683011 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @03:41PM (#47884047)
    It feels like they're trying to beat Apple to the punch with this huge multi-platform OS merge, but I can't imagine that anyone will really enjoy this. It has been clear that one of the bigger upsets in recent history involving Windows was the "seamless merging" of a tablet and desktop OS experience, so why would they continue this obviously damaging trend?
    • Re:Good decision? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by ColdWetDog ( 752185 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @03:44PM (#47884097) Homepage

      No, this is just Microsoft's Marketing Move of The Month. They change marketing strategies faster than Miley Cyrus changes clothes.

    • Hardly, they are trying to catch up with Linux which is already literally one OS running and holding a strong footprint on all these things. Of course Linux runs on platforms both smaller and larger than any form of Windows.
      • Saying there's any kind of unification is absurd. Tons of sometimes somewhat compatible products use versions of the same kernel and the same CLI toolset.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Threni ( 635302 )

        I'd love it if Linux was something Windows was trying to catch up with, but I'm afraid it's not even a grey cloud on the horizon as far as microsoft is concerned. If only it WAS one OS, supported by everyone from Dell to Oracle, it would wipe the floor with windows, but as long as there are 10 windows managers and 2000 distributions it'll never, ever happen.

    • It has been my understanding that Apple will keep OSX and iOS separate but for features that make sense to be on both. I don't expect a iMac Touch or Macbook Touch soon, but maybe I am wrong.
    • I think they're already ahead of Apple with they're universal apps. It's nice that if I pay for an app for my phone I get it for Win8 too. iOS and OSX still seem a long ways apart in many ways.

  • Brilliant! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jtownatpunk.net ( 245670 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @03:42PM (#47884057)

    Since there's so much confusion about the differences between RT, Phone, and desktop versions of our OS, let's just call them all by the same name. That will simplify things. Worked for Admiral General Aladeen.

    • Re:Brilliant! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by i kan reed ( 749298 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @03:47PM (#47884121) Homepage Journal

      I can't think of a thing microsoft has done in the past few years that aren't one of these:
      A. Restructuring their corporation
      B. Rebranding an existing product(so many times)
      C. Ripping off another company's consumer tech while being years too late to the party.

      • Since there's so much confusion about the differences between RT, Phone, and desktop versions of our OS, let's just call them all by the same name. That will simplify things. Worked for Admiral General Aladeen.

        I can't think of a thing microsoft has done in the past few years that aren't one of these:[..]
        B. Rebranding an existing product(so many times)

        Attention-deficit-rebranding so that no-one knows what the **** is what has long been an apparent obsession with Microsoft, and going by this story, they don't seem to be improving.

        I already posted this elsewhere a couple of years back and re-posted it at least once on Slashdot [slashdot.org]- but no point reinventing the wheel so:-

        This is the same company changed the name of its "passport" service a ludicrous amount of times:-

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_account [wikipedia.org]

        "Microsoft Account (previously Microsoft Wallet, Microsoft Passport, .NET Passport, Microsoft Passport Network, and most recently Windows Live ID)"

        I'd have said that MS's stupidly confusing naming is marketing-over-clarity, but *it's not even good marketing!!* I bet the man on the street doesn't have a clue what MS's constantly-changing brands-of-the-week are supposed to mean to him anyway, beyond being a confusing and counter-productive mish-mash of pseudo-terminology.

        The quintessential ironic example of how MS just don't get it was their (then-)latest media-player compatibility scheme called "Plays for Sure" which obviously implied Apple-style "no brainer just works" straightforwardness. They proceeded to totally undermine this by renaming it to tie in with "Certified for Windows Vista" (which also encompassed other schemes) and launched a separate, incompatible DRM/compatibility scheme for their now-defunct Zune range. Does anyone know (or care) what MS's attention-deficit clusterf*** of overlapping brands are supposed to mean?!

        Further thoughts on this are that it may be a reflection of Microsoft's internal political structure and culture, and power struggles, with every newcomer needing to stamp his or her identity o

        • Further thoughts on this are that it may be a reflection of Microsoft's internal political structure and culture, and power struggles, with every newcomer needing to stamp his or her identity on the product, regardless of whether that's beneficial.

          Both seem like symptoms of the same problem: nobody's really in charge. This leadership deficit seems like it largely started with Ballmer, who was more interested in yelling and dancing around like a monkey than running his company.

      • I can:

        D. Making overpriced acquisitions that go nowhere, and then writing the purchase off as a loss.
        E. Squandering potential opportunities via mismanagement and half-assed commitment.
        F. Spending a ton of money on marketing to make people think their shit is actually gold.

    • by msauve ( 701917 )
      "Worked for Admiral General Aladeen."

      ITYM General Protection Fault?
  • Microsoft is too late to the phone party.

    That space has been up and running for a LONG time and the competitors have too big a lead.

    • by DaHat ( 247651 )

      I'm sure Blackberry used to say the same about the various upstarts that tried to dethrown them... and we know how well that worked out.

      • Microsoft was the first one to the party. It's lunch got eaten by blackberry. Then blackberry got it's tail handed to it by apple and android. Hit is it going to compete?
      • I'm sure Blackberry used to say the same about the various upstarts that tried to dethrown them... and we know how well that worked out.

        Blackberry sat on its laurels and didn't try to innovate or court the consumer market instead aiming to the corporate market which was killed by the popularization of the Bring.Your.Own.Device policy.

  • by klek ( 1237566 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @03:42PM (#47884065)

    As if MSware were not obfuscated and confusing enough. Now people won't know if you are talking about a PC with Windows installed, or your WinPho.

    On the other hand, WindowsPhones will never get significant enough market share to really be that relevant to most of us techies, so it prolly won't matter.

  • Unified Kernel (Score:2, Insightful)

    Makes sense considering the plan to unify the kernel and APIs.
    • The kernel IS unified. They're literally using the same kernel across all devices since Windows 8 and equivalents. APIs are already optionally unified.

      The real last step is getting the WinRT APIs and environments up to snuff so they can be seamlessly used alongside Win32 applications on the desktop. That and providing incentives for applications to be written to universal standards, instead of just for tablet or phone (or desktop, once store apps become viable on the desktop).

      • the new API needs to be not locked to store only and side loading does not count

  • by gamorck ( 151734 ) <jaylittle AT jaylittle DOT com> on Thursday September 11, 2014 @03:48PM (#47884129) Homepage

    ...because Windows is such a well loved brand!

    • ...because Windows is such a well loved brand!

      What will consumers think of when they get to the cellphone store. Do you want the phone made by Apple (immediately associated with status) Google (the guys that make the internets in the mind of joe sixpack) or Windows (immediately think of the blue-screen or "this program has just performed an illegal operation dialog [translated you just lost three hours of work on the project the boss wants dialog]").

      Which is the consumer going to pick social status symbol, gift of the internet gods, or the product asso

      • Do I want a phone by Apple, that's overpriced and does the same thing as its competitors. Google, the guys that want to learn every facet of my life so they can profit off me. Windows, the company that has been making computers that works for the past two decades, and has to deal with the crud that goes wrong that isn't actually their fault; oh and the crowds of people that scream, "omg! I don't have a start button!! What is I to do?!?!?!"

  • by mbkennel ( 97636 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @03:50PM (#47884149)

    Microsoft has not ever understood one thing.

    People ***HATE*** "Windows". Windows is associated with work, pain, crazy difficulties, nerds and viruses. The brand name has negative value.

    So what does Microsoft do? They double and triple down on fucking *Windows*. They had the opportunity with the Metro to finally make people see Microsoft as going beyond Windows. "No this isn't Windows any more, it's not supposed to be Windows, and that's OK. We're more than Windows, so try it on its own terms".

    And now with phones they kill the one name, Nokia, which people did have a good association with, in favor of a nothingburger which might as well be a suppository name.
    • by asmkm22 ( 1902712 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @04:46PM (#47884735)

      I like Windows. (I also happen to like Linux). My clients all prefer Windows when it comes to PC's, except for a select few who are Apple fans. Most people I deal with, though (200-300), have no problem with it. I know it used to be trendy to hate microsoft and all that, but these days it seems very few people really care about brand identity, other than the REALLY hardcore fans.

    • by c ( 8461 )

      People ***HATE*** "Windows". Windows is associated with work, pain, crazy difficulties, nerds and viruses. The brand name has negative value.

      True. But it still gets more respect than "Windows Phone".

    • by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @04:48PM (#47884757)
      Windows is associated with work, pain, crazy difficulties, nerds and viruses.

      Huh? Most people I know associate Windows with easy and simple. Crazy difficulties and nerds is called "Linux".
    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      People ***HATE*** "Windows". Windows is associated with work, pain, crazy difficulties, nerds and viruses. The brand name has negative value.

      If you ignore half a billion relatively satisfied Windows 7 users, sure.

    • Microsoft is trying to be Google and Apple at the same time and they will likely fail badly at both.
      All because they can never stop growing....
  • by Rob_Bryerton ( 606093 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @04:00PM (#47884255) Homepage
    Free branding advice for MSFT; a variation on the classic formula:

    1. Think of a brand name.
    2. Does it contain the word "Windows"? If so, throw it away and go to step 1.
    3. Does it contain the word "Microsoft"? If so, throw it away and go to step 1.
    4. ???
    5. Profit
  • by Rob_Bryerton ( 606093 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @04:03PM (#47884297) Homepage

    Microsoft is killing off the "Windows Phone" name in favor of Windows.

    I think this version would be more appealing:

    Microsoft is killing off the "Windows Phone" name in favor of Phone.

  • Yup. That sounds perfect. I'm going to change my phone number now because I don't want to get calls from my relatives about "How do I install the Sims I bought on DVD on my Lumia?" or "How do I get my copy of Word 2013 running on my phone? It says it's running Windows so it should work with my copy of Office 2013, right?"

    I actually already got this one: "I bought Windows 8 to make my desktop (Windows 7) into a touchscreen but it's not working. The guy at the Microsoft Store said it would make my screen

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by neoritter ( 3021561 )

      Why is that Microsoft get's all the negative flak for stupid people?

      • Probably it's because Microsoft's issue is their confusing message. Do you really expect normal people to understand that Windows on a phone won't be available to run Windows application for desktop? To a normal person "Windows" is "Windows".

      • Because they also make the most noise about it.

  • by Mr_Wisenheimer ( 3534031 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @04:24PM (#47884539)

    The old Windows CE based OS's were the most open devices on the market, but with the new OS, Microsoft has gone the Apple route, which is a shame.

    The new Windows Phones are very friendly to the unsophisticated consumer, perhaps even more so than the iPhone, but they were so slow to react to the iPhone and lost so much market share that I'm not sure the product will ever be the success it once was.

    That said, it is smart to integrate Windows RT and Windows Phone.

    Their biggest challenge is to convince developers to actually release for this OS. They are far behind since deciding to kill off open development and switch to the iOS model of software sales.

  • These days Microsoft is changing their branding around faster than a huckster playing the shell game. No end-user knows what the implied promise of any of their brands is, and none of their brands are stable for long enough to figure out whether the implied promise is kept.

    I'm guessing this is a reflection of inner turmoil, and that whenever some internal group gets a new manager, that manager gets to pick new names for everything.

    Microsoft, like some other companies, doesn't quite get it that perception is

  • Microsoft vs Apple (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Just Some Guy ( 3352 ) <kirk+slashdot@strauser.com> on Thursday September 11, 2014 @04:34PM (#47884627) Homepage Journal

    Microsoft decides that it's in their best interest for all customers to use identical UIs, so they make Metro the standard interface on phones, video game systems, tablets, desktops, and servers. Apple decides that it's in their customers' best interest for products to have similar but individualized UIs, so they create tailored interfaces for tiny, small, and large displays.

    That, in a nutshell, is the difference between the two companies (and why Apple is eating Microsoft's lunch in every category where they directly compete).

    • Windows had these problems long before they tried unifying their OS UI. Cute theory, but it misses the mark.

  • I wonder (Score:2, Interesting)

    by JustNiz ( 692889 )

    I wonder how much money Microsoft will continue to throw at phones, and how many times they will keeping releasing new phones that don't sell before they finally accept that no-one actually likes Widows or trusts Microsoft any more, and that the only reason we use Windows at all is because you can't buy a laptop without it and most of us just have to put up with it at work.

    • by praxis ( 19962 )

      the only reason we use Windows at all is because you can't buy a laptop without it

      I'm sorry. What?! What OS do you think MacBooks run? It's not Windows!

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Compared to the Microsofty cacophony of yesteryear:

    - Windows Starter
    - Windows Home Basic
    - Windows Home Premium
    - Windows Professional
    - Windows Enterprise
    - Windows Ultimate

    and that's just for the Desktop edition. I'll take a move in the opposite direction, hoping they'll eventually settle on a happy medium.

    • I'm waiting for the Windows Knock-Off-The-Bells-n-Whistles-Bullshit-And-Let-Us-Get-Work-Done Edition myself.
    • I'll believe it when I actually see it. What I really expect to see is the following - six different products named like this:

      - Windows
      - Windows
      - Windows
      - Windows
      - Windows
      - Windows

      But "Windows" only lets you run three programs at once. If you want more, you'll need to buy an upgrade to "Windows" - but that won't join an AD domain. Therefore office workers will want to purchase Windows, which can participate in AD. However if you want all the bells and whistles, the one you'll want to buy is Windows.

      That's a

  • I always felt awkward saying Windows Phone Phone.

  • by rjejr ( 921275 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @05:13PM (#47884935)
    Next week we'll all be running Microsoft Minecraft on our Minecraft Phones and using Minecraft Office.
  • Apple has already proven that one size does not fit all when it comes to operating systems by demonstrating the performance benefits of right-sizing an OS for a hardware platform. Microsoft seconded this notion with Windows 8, stuffing a touch-based OS into a zillion pc's without touch screens. Alas, they're still a couple of dimes short of a dollar, and are pushing a one-size-fits-all solution that pretty much everyone else agrees is a terrible idea.

  • by viperidaenz ( 2515578 ) on Thursday September 11, 2014 @06:30PM (#47885507)

    Let's buy a brand, then phase out the name of the brand.
    What could go wrong?

  • Does anyone remember Windows CE, Pocket PC & Windows Mobile? It's all the same thing. They realise the brand is ruined, release an iterative update, change the name and congratulate themselves on a job well done.

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