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.
KIlling off the Microsoft Store Name Too (Score:4, Funny)
Re:KIlling off the Microsoft Store Name Too (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:KIlling off the Microsoft Store Name Too (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, like the vast majority of smart phone users.
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The vast majority of smart phone users don't use iPhones, but Apple's done pretty well.
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That's because Apple still has meaningful market share.
This whole notion of ratios has you a bit confused I see.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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One small problem with your statement:
The vast majority of smart phone users don't use iPhones, but Apple's done pretty well.
A very significant portion of the public does use iPhones (here in PDX it's roughly half and half). The only two human beings I've seen who use and *like* Windows Phones were as follows: a gent who wanted something cheap and worked in .NET for a living, and a visiting Microsoft TAM.
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Re:KIlling off the Microsoft Store Name Too (Score:5, Insightful)
In this case it was all pre-planned. Basically the whole batshit crazy idea, lets turn the computer desktop into a phone interface to force users who don't want it to get used to the windows phone interface and buy it like mindless lemmings.
Apparently that whole batshit crazy plan backfired and did more damage to windows on the desktop than it ever did to force acceptance of windows on a phone.
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I don't think "Windows Phone 8.1" and "Windows 8.1" are really the same though? If they truly released the full OS on a phone it would be fantastic, but in my old experience from the Windows CE days, you get a watered down version of an OS which does not truly compare. So it feels misleading that they call it the same. Now I could be wrong and maybe they've managed to bring some compatibility, which would definitely be interesting.
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Spoken like someone who's never used one.
One of my girlfriend's friends had a Windows Phone. As soon as the contract was up, she replaced it with Android.
I've never seen another one out in the wild, so I'm guessing that's why no-one else has never used one.
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windows stands or well I'm not doing office work suckers.
The first sentences of your comment were painful to read, but after several passes I understood you. The last sentence--quoted above--has stumped me even after several attempts to parse it. I gather you feel we are suckers and you do not do office work, but Windows stands or well? Could you please rephrase?
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or = for
Therefore:
Well I'm Not Doing Office Work Suckers = WINDOWS
Ah! Thank you. That's cute but silly.
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The reality is that Windows Phone has the same problem as desktop Linux. It is actually quite a good operating system and works really well with a broad set of features but it was late to the game and you cannot disrupt an established market without a disruptive product.
Sure people could switch to it but why would they? It - like desktop Linux - lacks some killer feature, some really compelling and disruptive element that would convince people to switch. For this reason I see it - again like desktop Linux -
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I have used a few though the years, all the in rom apps worked quite well, cant really say much about 3rd party aps, cause there weren't any
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Because selling software in an online market place is clearly all invented by Apple
It wasn't, but I'm pretty sure that point is irrelevant as the OP meant the glass-and-steel Apple stores.
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apple uses aluminum and granite, not steel. or as the friends across the pond say, aluminium and granite.
If that is the case, then I stand corrected. The OP was referring to Apple's glass-and-aluminum stores.
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I don't doubt you, I just never inspected or read about their buildings enough to know this. Steel is a pretty prevalent building material and I made an assumption. I'm not surprised, given Jobs's attention to detail, though.
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I don't doubt you,
I doubt everyone, so I checked.
OP and the other posters are wrong. The stone is not granite, it's sandstone, and was chosen for it's color and consistency, not it's wear capabilities.
Now it’s revealed that the process of creating the stone floor tiles and large wall slabs falls to the Il Casone quarry, formed in 1962 by four stonemason families with generations of experience in creating subtle beauty from rough rock. The company’s quarry is north of Florence in the small town of Firenzuola, in the heart of a geologic region of sandstone called Pietra Serena. The blue-gray color of the stone, its texture and tone all contribute to the overall look of the finished Apple store.
http://www.ifoapplestore.com/2... [ifoapplestore.com]
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Because Apple invented selling products in physical stores?
No, but if you've ever been inside a Microsoft Store you'll understand the original poster's point. They *do* feel very creepily similar to the Apple stores in layout, look and feel. No other store (other than those two) I've been in has the same feel. BestBuys feel different. So do Fry's. So do AT&T store. Pretty much any other store one might go into and buy a device that has a battery or plugs into a wall.
Good decision? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Good decision? (Score:4, Interesting)
No, this is just Microsoft's Marketing Move of The Month. They change marketing strategies faster than Miley Cyrus changes clothes.
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You mean, they're usually without a real strategy?
Miley puts ON clothes? (Score:5, Funny)
Miley CHANGES clothes? I thought she just took them off.
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Unless she was born with clothes on, I'd say she had to have had put on clothes at least once in her life before she had any to take off. Somebody else putting it on her also counts.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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You have some large machines with your five-foot touch-only device and twenty-seven-foot desktop with Metro. Also, didn't Microsoft rename Metro as Modern-Style User Interface?
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Are you instaling on 5'? So, by default, I will not give you desktop, and you have a touch only.
So what do I get when I plug a phone into an external HDMI monitor? I have 5" and 24".
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So what do I get when I plug a phone into an external HDMI monitor? I have 5" and 24".
Well the practicality mostly depends on the control input, not the output device. A desktop is pretty much never practical on a 5" screen regardless of the input mechanism but on a 10" screen with a keyboard connected it would be. A 5" device outputting to an external screen with a mouse and keyboard attached could obviously support desktop usage.
Trackpad (Score:2)
A 5" device outputting to an external screen with a mouse and keyboard attached could obviously support desktop usage.
You wouldn't even need an external mouse. With just a keyboard and monitor, a phone could act like a trackpad.
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You wouldn't even need an external mouse. With just a keyboard and monitor, a phone could act like a trackpad.
Well yes from a practical perspective a trackpad is a mouse and the phone could be configured to provide that functionality.
Re: Good decision? (Score:2)
Make a wide variety of laptop style thin clients which can be docked with or without wires to the phone. Then you can mix and match. The device c
Brilliant! (Score:5, Insightful)
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)
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.
Counter-productive renaming obsession (Score:2)
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
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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.
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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.
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ITYM General Protection Fault?
Too late ... (Score:2)
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.
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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.
Re: Too late ... (Score:2)
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Nokia had the first smartphone: the Nokia Communicator in 1996. The first of Microsoft's own phones were running Windows Mobile 2002, so were at least 6 years later.
Nobody cares who had the first smartphone, the point he is making is that Microsoft had the first widely popular smartphone platform and that is correct, then Blackberry took over, then Apple took over that and now Android has taken over Apple.
(and yes before you get all excited and bent out of shape I know from your posting history that you're a huge apple fan and yes apple does still have appreciable market share, yes they have the most popular single device and yes they are profitable the point is simply
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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.
Reduce name, Increase confusion (Score:4, Insightful)
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)
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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).
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the new API needs to be not locked to store only and side loading does not count
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All versions of Windows are now based on Windows NT. That's why WP7 users didn't get an update to WP8 - every single driver would've needed a rewrite.
I wouldn't call it dumb - the tiny gains related to a custom kernel are far outweighed by the many advantages of commonality, like easy hardware support (one driver is enough for all Windows devices) and easy API portability.
What a great move! (Score:3)
...because Windows is such a well loved brand!
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...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
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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?!?!?!"
Abject brand mismanagement (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Abject brand mismanagement (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
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True. But it still gets more respect than "Windows Phone".
Re:Abject brand mismanagement (Score:4, Insightful)
Huh? Most people I know associate Windows with easy and simple. Crazy difficulties and nerds is called "Linux".
Re:Abject brand mismanagement (Score:4, Informative)
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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.
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That was certainly Steve Ballmer's approach.
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All because they can never stop growing....
next version of windows (Score:2)
"Windows" shouldn't be going on phones, tablets, surfaces, anything else that doesn't need to be.
MacOS was hardly as tainted as Windows but Apple didn't say the iPhone was a Mac when it wasn't.
Free branding advice for MSFT: (Score:3)
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
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A better idea... (Score:3)
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.
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Yup. That sounds perfect. (Score:2)
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
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Why is that Microsoft get's all the negative flak for stupid people?
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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".
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Because they also make the most noise about it.
I switched to Android when the new OS was released (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
They must be playing musical chairs quickly... (Score:2)
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)
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).
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Windows had these problems long before they tried unifying their OS UI. Cute theory, but it misses the mark.
I wonder (Score:2, Interesting)
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.
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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!
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Oversimplification vs. overcomplication (Score:2)
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.
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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
Awkward (Score:2)
I always felt awkward saying Windows Phone Phone.
Doesnt matter what they call it now... (Score:5, Funny)
correction: 1 OS to FAIL them all (Score:2)
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.
I've got a great idea (Score:3, Funny)
Let's buy a brand, then phase out the name of the brand.
What could go wrong?
They must think rebranding fixes crap (Score:2)
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It's like wading through a hipster party. "Windoooowss baaaaddd! HAR HAR!!!"
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And you can't even tell me which one that is--because they are all called "Windows."
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The have no choice about losing the Nokia name, they only have the rights to it until 2015. After that it reverts back to Nokia who could (in theory) use it to make phones again.
exactly the problem (Score:2)
Microsoft should be doing everything in its power to make the one brand that people like to be the powerful, single name.
Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 930 ------------> the Nokia.
"Let me Google it(*) on my Nokia". Metro/Modern/Surface/WinPhone -> NokiaOS. There are NO WINDOWS on the interface!
The next brand down they have is Skype.
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They only have the rights till 2015 so they can't.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2... [theregister.co.uk]