Nokia: We’ll Name Our Phones

By Geoff Duncan September 7, 2006

Sometimes it’s painful when a treasured technological tradition passes by the wayside, but…well, change is good, right?

Today Nokia, the world’s largest maker of mobile phone handsets, told a Citigroup investors meeting in New York that it plans to name its future mobile phone lines, instead of using a numbering systems to distinguish models. According to Nokia’s head of marketing Keith Pardy, in the future customers “are going to start to see names that carry a meaning and are important to consumers.”

Rivals like Motorola and LG have had considerable success with their RAZR and Chocolate phone branding,

Nokia did not reveal any names it might use for phones in the future; we’re kind of hoping they don’t take after Sweden’s IKEA and grant every product a vaguely Scandinavian name, often humorously tied to common English terms. Nokia’s just-introduced 8880 “Sirocco” might be an indication of the company’s naming direction…although it comes across more like a car model from Ford or GM than a svelte Finnish phone.

Still, we’ll miss the days when everyone knew what we were talking about when we said fashion bugs lusted for a Nokia 7360,

But, in a way, named Nokia phones won’t be the same. After all, everyone knew what we’re talking about when we say we’re lusting after a 7360 or thought the 6201 was maybe the ugliest thing on the planet. (Ah…good times, good times.)

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