Microsoft bought Nokia? No, Microsoft did not buy Nokia. Then what did they buy? Microsoft bought the Devices and Services division of Nokia. That Devices and Services division is now called Microsoft Mobile Oy. Microsoft Mobile Oy in Finland is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation.
Oy means Ltd. Oy is the abbreviation of Osakeyhtiö in Finnish language which means Private Limited Company.
Nokia still has 3 other businesses: HERE Maps, Nokia Networks and Advanced Technologies.
So Nokia still remains to be a separate company and they own and maintain the Nokia brand.
Microsoft has licensed to use the Nokia brand on mobile phones (Nokia Asha, Nokia X and Nokia feature phones) for 10 years and on Lumia for 18 months.
Microsoft may remove the Nokia brand from Lumia within this 18 months, but they can't use the Nokia Lumia brand after 18 month, that is on December 31, 2015.
Microsoft owns the Lumia and Asha brands which they can continue to use even after the 18 months or 10 years limit but without the Nokia brand along with them.
Microsoft and Nokia are two different companies as I explained in the beginning of this article.
Nokia owns the Nokia brand and Microsoft does not have the right to use the Nokia brand on Lumia phones after 18 months as per the terms of the agreement of this deal.
When I asked Stephen Elop, the Executive Vice President of Devices Group at Microsoft and the former President and CEO of Nokia about the future of Nokia Lumia brand he replied "I think this will become clearer as we disclose our branding plans (which we are not yet ready to share)."
Microsoft will replace the "Nokia" brand with the "Microsoft" brand in future Lumia phones, so the new brand will be "Microsoft Lumia", but feature phones will continue to have the Nokia brand for 10 more years as explained above.
Most of the Lumia exclusive apps such as Nokia Camera, Nokia Cinemagraph, Nokia Refocus, Nokia PlayTo, etc. will remain to be exclusive to Lumia and will not be available to other Windows Phone devices any time soon.
These apps will be renamed from "Nokia" to "Lumia". For example Nokia Camera will become Lumia Camera.
Microsoft can manage the
Nokia.com website including all subdomains and Nokia social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Vine, etc. for up to a year only. So Microsoft will move from
Nokia.com to a new website under
Microsoft.com for Mobile Devices (
Microsoft.com/en/mobile) and rename all the social media pages from "Nokia" to "Microsoft Lumia".
Nokia's website which is currently at
company.nokia.com will be on the main
Nokia.comdomain after Microsoft completely switches to the new website.
Nokia will not make phones anymore. Some people think that Nokia will make phones in 2016, but this is just a misunderstanding about the deal. As per the deal terms Nokia can not use the Nokia brand on Nokia's own mobile devices until December 31, 2015. This does not mean Nokia will make phones in 2016, but many people misunderstood this and thought Nokia will make phones in 2016.
The purpose of this article is to explain the Microsoft - Nokia deal and Nokia Lumia brand in simple words for everyone to understand. Feel free to share this Note by clicking on the "Share" button below, but please don't copy the text of this note and paste it. I will update this Note with more info based on the questions asked in comments below. Bloggers can embed this Note in their blog by clicking on "Embed Post".
PS: This whole article was actually typed by Cortana while I dictated it.
Last updated on October 28, 2014 to include details about Microsoft Lumia brand, changes to the websites and social media pages, and about the misconception that Nokia will make phones in 2016.
Credits :- Nawzil Najeeb
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