Honestly I think that's even worse and more complicated than as they are now.
Well... that's because it is. But it's not because the numbers were replaced with names, but rather because the names were simply too complex and information dense. By now, just the fact that it's overthrown the conversation makes it clear
something needs to happen to the naming scheme so that the general public isn't left to play a guessing game with tons of numbers that will sound randomized to people who don't know how to decipher the numbering matrix. The fact that they exist now makes it seem like the entire platform is an unfinished beta full of phones that still have their tentative release prototype model numbers. No marketing specialist would ever agree to releasing a phone with names like that.
All the same, being able to name a phone something that's catchy and easy to remember isn't a skill any Joe Schmoe is expected to have because people actually take marketing classes for this. This is where marketing staff (and a couple professional designers) would come into play - people who have spent a bulk of their profession monitoring products like the Audi, Wii, Pet Rock, etc. and being able to realize what makes their name so recognizable (hint: simplicity plays a HUGE part) so that they can apply their finesse to a phone by giving it a name that has the chance to appeal.
We live in a complicated world full of people that desire nothing more than to keep it simple... so something like the proposed solution to de-complicate Lumia 1520 to "Lumia MagnaScreen Pro 2" (an eight-syllable mouthful) could simply be the "Lumia Prime".
Another thing I mentioned that needs to happen (which got nowhere near as much attention as simplifying the naming scheme, strangely enough) is Microsoft's mobile division taking a long, hard "think" about the current state of things so that they have a chance to realize how much money they're losing on redundancy. The Lumia 520 hit a sweet spot in the market, and definitely did deserve to be succeeded by another low-dollar phone... problem is... it didn't just get one successor, it got the Lumia 530, 535, 630, 635 and then some. There's simply no need for three damn phones to be released which all offer the same thing with their 512MB, lack of front cam, and low-end specs... and I'd even argue that we're in a state where 512MB devices need to go altogether. The Lumia 535 is the only one of those after the 520 that actually needs to exist, and since the 735's major appeal is a *selfie-oriented* 5mp ffc (something the 535 has) that could also be canned as well in favor of the 535.
Then the same thing could happen all throughout all tiers of the Lumias... recognizing just how and why the 1320 successors could be scrapped in favor of simply upgrading the 1520. See what happens there? Just like that, the necessity to rename so many phones and get into such a crazily complex naming scheme is gone simply because the cutting of redundancy resulted in less phones... so all we'd have to do is rename the Lumia 535 (I'd opt for something like Lumia Hero, but there's people more qualified than me who would likely come up with a name that has more market-stickiness)... ideally; there'd only be:
- Lumia 1525. A phone that fills the need for a high-powered phablet... which could be called "
Lumia Prime"
- Lumia 1030. The *specialty* phone to represent Lumia Camera. Something like "
Lumia PowerShot" would do.
- Lumia 535. The cheap budget phone which could be called "
Lumia Hero"
- Lumia 830. The "affordable flagship"... "
Lumia Medal" would be an okay name.
- Lumia 938. A smaller high end phone w/SD slot. Relaying the moniker "
Lumia Icon" would be perfect.
See? Doesn't even need to be simplified to three phones... but getting rid of some redundancy and giving their phones names that have market-stickiness absolutely has to happen if Microsoft expects to stop losing this arms race... a key point I mentioned earlier in the topic is that less devices to focus on would also get us updates faster, bugs can be fixed faster, devs have less of a headache, and it decreases the complication involved in getting products to many markets.
They could even pull a card from HTC's success and affix a two character identifier to every name... which would have the end result of Lumia Hero G1 or Lumia Prime G1... so that when a revision comes out (ala: Lumia Hero G2, Lumia Prime G2) the consumer does not have to say any more than "I'm looking for that new Lumia Hero"... and it would establish consistency.
Just being able to request a Lumia phone (or describe what Lumia you have) with that level of simplicity would mean the world to Lumia's social image.
And as a closing note, the social image is ultimately what needs repair. A name like "Galaxy S" wasn't immediately successful... the first Galaxy S was actually kind of a trainwreck... but it was built upon through many revisions... seeing the S2, S3, S4 and S5 let the username know that "Galaxy S" is here to stay, and constantly improving. That's the same kind of impact that could be established with something like a Lumia Prime G1, G2, G3, etc... and something that needs to happen if they expect more than a niche to believe in them.
Microsoft in between pictures and looking a lot smarter since 2013/2014. The Microsoft brand value has also been rising into top rankings.
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