Nokia says it’ll start rebranding its ‘Ovi’ services as ‘Nokia’ from July, although the transition isn’t expected to be completed worldwide until the end of next year. No disruption to any of the services is expected.
Jerri DeVard, Nokia’s Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, said “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 reasons for this decision includes the fact that Nokia is a well-known and highly-loved brand the world over. Our mobile experiences are tightly integrated with our devices – there is no longer a differentiation. For example, if consumers want the best mobile navigation experience, they know it’s a Nokia that they can rely on. These last few years, and moving forward, our mission remains unchanged: we will continue our work to deliver compelling, unified mobile service offerings and next-generation, disruptive technologies.”
Ovi was first announced in August 2007 and launched as a beta service in 2008.
[Nokia Conversations blog;Ovi blog]