Because Microsoft is approaching the game in a manner in which they can't possibly hope to succeed.
Name sounds like a small deal, but it's very big. The numbering scheme of Lumias absolutely demolish any chance of WP becoming iconic. Lumia 1320 isn't a recognizable moniker... iPhone is. Even if - by some chance - one of these numbered Lumias were to rise to any form of being noticed, they'd drown in the convolution of having so many alternatives available. There's the Lumia 520 on AT&T, the 521 on T-Mobile, the 525 that offers more memory... pretty easy stuff for us to understand, but it's absolutely alienating to the general public.
The Lumia 520 hit home... and it was lucky considering that the odds were against it. Learning everything about what made that phone successful and replicating it would be a viable option if Microsoft wants to repair what's got the most damage right now: their consumer confidence.
The Lumia 535 was a step in the right direction, but their adherence to the numbering scheme is proof they're not learning anything. Think of how different things would be if the iPhone weren't so recognizable... if they'd have named it the Apple A1387 instead. Calling it simply the "Microsoft Lumia" would have given it much more of a chance to 'catch on,' and paved the way for a *smarter* mobile division that realizes the importance of social appeal. Instead of having a hundred different Lumias, they could simply release one low-end cheap basic phone to start at $149 off-contract and be sold at $49-$69 per promotional deal that would mimic the sweet spot found by the Lumia 520... then have a "powerhouse" phone chock full of the latest and greatest in smartphone specs.
People ask about my Lumia 830 almost every time I whip it out... and honestly I don't even wanna get into explaining what kind of phone it is because I've seen enough of my Windows Phones invoke that "Ah, I'll never remember that name... moving on." response... and yes, that kind of thing cuts deeply into how well the interest for the platform can grow. That's something that should have been noticed and resolved ages ago.
If they wanna be real smart, they could even use the well-established name of their Surface lineage... one "Microsoft Surface Phone" (cheap little 1GBram 8GBstorage phone with a sub-par 960x540 screen, sub-par front/back cameras, etc...)... then a "Surface Phone Pro" (QHD IPSLCD display, SD805, 2-3GB RAM, etc...) and possibly even a third *specialty* phone that focuses on a ridiculously high-spec camera or the wicked touch mechanics fabled with McLaren... but never any more than three per generation. Take no freedom away from other OEMs, but let a selection of 2-3 Microsoft-created devices represent the WP platform. The stress to manage bits and pieces of specialty hardware updates would then disappear, it'd be easier to get just three phones spread across all regions/markets instead of the holes-in-cheese catastrophe we have now... and uniformity - CONSISTENCY - could be established.
Windows Phone can't gain traction without a recognizable name and proper handling... once those issues are resolved, devs will come easy. It wouldn't be easy to pry me away from the Windows Phone platform, but I wouldn't lie and say they're handling things well because they're very obviously not.
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