Microsoft Rebrands Nokia Smartphones to Microsoft Lumia

As far back as April, Microsoft (MSFT) devices chief Stephen Elop said the Nokia (NOK) smartphone line would be rebranded at some point, but not as Microsoft Mobile, even though that’s now the official name for Nokia’s former device business.

Microsoft holds a 10-year license to use the Nokia brand (only 18 months on smartphones) but the vendor wasn’t expected to keep the name for the long term, given the potential for confusion with the remaining parts of Nokia’s business.

“The Nokia brand is available to Microsoft to use for its mobile phones products for a period of time, but Nokia as a brand will not be used for long going forward for smartphones,” Elop said at the time. “Work is underway to select the go-forward smartphone brand.”

Elop, who joked the new branding wouldn’t be “Nokia Lumia 1020 with Windows Phone on the AT&T LTE Network,” now can check the renaming task off his to-do list, as Microsoft will change the Nokia line to Microsoft Lumia, the Verge and other outlets reported.

Nokia France became the first country to adopt Microsoft Lumia for its social media accounts, including Facebook (FB) and Twitter, with other countries following suit in the next few weeks, the report said.

Since Microsoft’s $7.1 billion Nokia acquisition finalized in late April, the Nokia brand has been seen less and less with some Windows Phone apps dropping it and a number of websites redirecting visitors to Microsoft’s site. Similarly, Microsoft hasn’t promoted the Windows Phone brand much lately either, turning to just using Windows instead.

The recently unwrapped Nokia Lumia 730 and 830 likely will be the last smartphones carrying the Nokia name.

Nokia’s networking, mapping and licensing businesses still operate as a separate company so Microsoft’s move to take the Nokia nameplate off its smartphones had to be done at some point.