In another major move since Elop joined, Nokia has announced it will rebranding its growing brand of Ovi services to Nokia services, i.e., Nokia Store, Nokia Maps, etc.,. While no direct reference was made to the Nokia-Microsoft deal, it is no doubt linked to plans of integrating Windows Phone Marketplace and the Ovi Store.
[RELATED_ARTICLE]The Ovi Store has been doing reasonably well, in the recent past, hitting about 5 million app downloads a day. In a blog post entitled “The evolution of Nokia and Ovi,” the announcement had Nokia’s EVP and CMO, Jerri DeVard, say:
“We have made the decision to change our service branding from Ovi to Nokia. By centralizing our services identity under one brand, not two, we will reinforce the powerful master brand of Nokia and unify our brand architecture – while continuing to deliver compelling opportunities and experiences for partners and consumers alike.”
The rebranding will rollout starting with fresh devices shipped in July and August, and the full list of Ovi services will become Nokia Services by 2012. Current Nokia owners will begin receiving software updates to the effect in the near future.
