Note to Microsoft: The New Lumia Family

[nallWhite]

I'm going with Apple (and you) on this one: the fewer models, the better. Multiple SKU's and models compromise the brand, distract, and dilute.

Your "Pro" is like an "Advanced Technology" and aims to show something off (even if it has a limited audience) while building on top of the Pure line.

​

Steve got this one right.

 

[GCrane1982]

I think the end goal would be for Microsoft to do a similar thing as they are doing with the Surface where they are only really producing a couple of high end products with yearly upgrades to show off what the platform is capable of. However as WP only has a few % market share they cannot afford to do this and have to resort to flooding the market with cheaper handsets to try and increase the market share as there are currently no other OEM's willing to do this. The result of this is that they have too many handsets and too many variations of the same handset all under the Lumia brand with confusing model numbers rather than names.

Look at Samsung, they produce probable as many different handsets as what Nokia/Microsoft do however they have a clear marketing brand in the Galaxy range with model names and then numbers to determine the newer phones for example

Galaxy Note - used for phablets with incremental number increased based on version i.e. Galaxy Note 4
Galaxy S - used for their high end range again with incremental number increased based on version i.e. Galaxy S5, Galaxy S5 Mini
Galaxy Ace
Galaxy K

The list goes on.

I think that the Lumia brand could certainly learn something from this for example

Lumia S3 (930)
Lumia S2 (920)
Lumia XL (1520) (XL for Extra Large)
Lumia Pure (1020) (Pure for Pureview)
Lumia A (520) (A for affordable)
Lumia A2 (530)

Would this help with the overall marketing of the Lumia handsets? Who know, but it couldn't be any worse than what they are currently using.

 

[edoug]

Apple's shown you don't need to do the continual drone of the under differentiated.

Once a year for Surface.
Once a year for Win Phone.

Want to do something more? twice a year for WP features/Windows features that are "mid cycle"

 

[Keith Wallace]

Those suggested names are horrendous. Other than "Pro," you can't decipher what any device line is about. What is a "lifestyle" device, versus a "freedom" one? Those are terrible suggestions.

If you're going to rebrand it because of confusion, then you should rebrand the different models in a MORE-demonstrative way, not a less-demonstrative one. All they really should bother doing is rearranging the numbers:

First digit: Class
Second digit: Display size
Third digit: Device iteration

Then, you have the 5-10 options. Each increment is an increase in device quality. You start at 5, and 6 goes from the Snapdragon 200 to the 400. The 700 adds the improved front-facing camera. The 800 gets you the HD display, wireless charging, and OIS. The 900 display gets you to the Snapdragon 800 series, along with camera and display resolution bumps (even though the 820 had a high-end SoC, the 800 series seems to carry budget silicon now). The 1000 series gets you the 42-MP camera.

So, the 1320 would become a 660, and the follow-up would become the 661. The 1020 is still the 1020, and it's proceeded by the 1021. The 1520 is the 960, the 930 WOULD have been the 921. So, while my suggestion makes sense, Nokia and Microsoft have already butchered that last digit with carrier variations and chassis changes.

Still, even this current system tops a bunch of random nouns and adjectives which don't convey anything on their own.

 

[agentmikeyd99]

Nobody even knows the Lumia name, so with Windows.10 MS should start over for its mid and.flagship phones. Sure,.keep Lumia for the cheapos, but have.some.cool simple names like Surface for mid range and Surface Max for flagship. Unlike the name Lumia, at leasT Surface has a little bit of traction. All this Lumia ### is garbage

KISS (acronym)

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Here is my suggestion

1. Lumia Mini---Get rid of the 6x lineup...it's unnecessary and keep making phones like the 535. SD card Slot, 1 GB ram, 8 GB slot, 4.3-4.5 inches
(Competes with Moto E)
2.Lumia Echo- The 7x line-up........High Res Front Facing Camera with 8 Megapixel Camera on the back(Non Pureview of course)
(Competes with Moto G)
3. Lumia Marvel- The 830 type of devices.

4. Lumia Elite- The 930 type of devices......SD card slot Mandatory, 20 Megapixel camera, 5-5.2 inches, High battery life, Sleek Design

"For those who want the best of the best...The Elite."-- Totally made this slogan up
5. Lumia Prodigy- A prodigy is something/someone exceptional. Let this be a phone that is better than the rest aka Lumia 1020

"The Prodigy: A Class of its own"- Totally made that up lol

6. Lumia Titan & Lumia Titan S2: Lumia 1320/1520 type of devices

"Sometimes Bigger really is better.."---- LOL

Release the Mini & Echo devices in January-Feburary

Follow up with & Prodigy for the Summer

End your year with the Elite & Titan

That's if they want to keep most of the line-up. Personally I say

Lumia Mini(all 4 carriers plus prepaid), Lumia Marvel, Lumia Prodigy & Lumia Titan.

 

[Munter2]

I don't care what they name it, just release a real flagship phone already.

 

[N_LaRUE]

I'll add my two cents here and address a couple of things.

First, I think using names makes more sense as well. Whatever they may be called. I think getting away from the numbers would be the smartest thing to do. I honestly think the numbering convention has been one of the bigger issues.

Second, I'd eventually like to see the Lumia name dropped. I know this upsets many people when I say that but in all reality it means absolutely nothing and has no pull whatsoever in the US market. I also think aside from certain markets, no one cares what the phone is called. They need a new name, eventually. I'm not saying to do this right away but I think it if you're going to start fresh, go all out.

Third, to address the revisions. Just do what Google does with the Nexus 7, 9 and 10 models. Use the year as a means of tracking revisions. You can even put in on the phone somewhere in a nice way so it's not a big deal to figure out what model you have. Although the About section could easily take care of this.

I think releasing all phones at once makes the most sense, none of this multiple release nonsense.

Lastly, advertise the crap out of them regardless what they do.

 

[Kram Sacul]

So far all the suggestions in this thread have been really funny. I thought the Lumia Icon was a lame generic name for the 929/930. Like something HTC would've came up with years ago (Sensation, Inspire, Evo, Titan, Thunderbolt). Just imagine what the 530s, 630s, 730, and 830 could've been called. We could've had the Lumia Legend or the Lumia Epic line.

I happen to like the current naming system (with a few exceptions) so of course I think MS should stick with that. I just wish they would stop putting out so many variants of the various lines. How many kind of 53x or 63x is really needed? I'm also not a fan of the ugly carrier variants (810, 822) but I don't think they won't pull that again.

 

[Keith Wallace]

No, I'd never buy a phone called "Epic," that's a ridiculous name I'd expect bros to come up with. The numbering's fine, it just needs to be more clearly conveyed what the numbers mean. Like was mentioned, people assume that more = better, leaving one to think that the 1320 budget device is superior to the 930, which carries PureView optics, higher-resolutions for the display and camera, and a better SoC.

 

[tangledW]

Over the past few months, I started thinking about how Microsoft could build brand equity with Lumia. It wasn?t until a few days ago when I walked into an AT&T store to have my wife?s number get ported to AT&T from StraightTalk. An AT&T representative asked my wife, ?What phone do you have?? She responded, ?A Samsung?.uhh?. I interrupted and told the rep, ?She has a Nokia Lumia 920?. My wife felt completely embarrassed and I?ve been teasing her about it ever since. But honestly, this is a problem. My own wife, who has used a Lumia 920 for two years and has heard the name spoken countless times around the house, could not remember the name of her phone. This isn?t her fault, it?s Nokia. Call it however you want, but this is a problem that Microsoft has inherited.

I disagree... It most certainly is your wife's fault. Just don't tell her that.

 

[Nicholas Maguire]

I disagree... It most certainly is your wife's fault. Just don't tell her that.

Yeah... She should have at least known it was a Nokia.

 

[ohgood]

Over the past few months, I started thinking about how Microsoft could build brand equity with Lumia. It wasn?t until a few days ago when I walked into an AT&T store to have my wife?s number get ported to AT&T from StraightTalk. An AT&T representative asked my wife, ?What phone do you have?? She responded, ?A Samsung?.uhh?. I interrupted and told the rep, ?She has a Nokia Lumia 920?. My wife felt completely embarrassed and I?ve been teasing her about it ever since. But honestly, this is a problem. My own wife, who has used a Lumia 920 for two years and has heard the name spoken countless times around the house, could not remember the name of her phone. This isn?t her fault, it?s Nokia. Call it however you want, but this is a problem that Microsoft has inherited.

As we all know, Windows Phone is almost at a standstill especially when there is no true flagship announced for the holiday season. We all know that the next model will have Windows 10 and this is truly an exciting time to speculate on what?s coming. What I would like to focus today is how Microsoft can actually reach out to the U.S. market and beyond with great brand equity. In my opinion, one of the reasons that Windows Phone hasn?t done so well is that Windows 8/8.1 was a disaster in terms of market share. Windows 10, on the other hand, has a lot of promise and represents an openness of Microsoft to truly listen to customer feedback. I expect that we will see positive responses from the mass to Windows 10. Because of this, this is a tremendous opportunity to ?reintroduce? Windows Phone and it all starts with building brand equity of the Lumia name.

It?s time to introduce the new Lumia family.

I?ve looked at the various Lumia models and there?s one thing that needs to be fixed. The numbering scheme needs to go. The Lumia 920, 925, 928, 929 all create confusion for the average consumer if you ask them the difference among these models. Not one person that I asked in the past few days thought the 929 was all that much different from the 928. Every one of them thought the 930 was superior to the 929 because of the increment in the tens digit. The same goes for the 1320 when they all believed that it represented a flagship device in comparison to the 930. There?s too much confusion and this does not build brand equity well. Look at the iPhone and the Galaxy series and you?ll see consistency among them and people understood that the numbers represented the generation of the brand. It?s easy to understand, which leads to consumer confidence in how they use their buying power.

View attachment 88333

By looking at the entire Lumia family, I initially saw six possible groups of Lumia models. However, six was too high a number so I kept at it and got myself down to four distinct Lumia groups. They are Freedom, Lifestyle, Pure, and Pro. These are names that I came up with to distinguish the Lumia models into groups that may make sense for the average consumer.

The Freedom group represents the budget phones such as the Lumia 535 and 635 where people are free from contracts when they purchase these phones. It also has a sense of freedom that people might feel when they move from a budget Android phone to a Windows Phone, knowing that their experience would be different.

The Lifestyle group represents the phones that would appeal to people that like to use their phones beyond the basic set of features they would find in the Freedom line of devices. Features such as a high quality front-facing camera to express one?s self or the myriad of colors they can use to extend their identity among a crowd. The Lifestyle line of devices features mid-range devices and would include the Lumia 730/735, 1320 and the Lumia 830 even if it is billed as an affordable flagship.

The Pure line of devices is where the flagship resides in. This represents the best of Lumia in terms of overall experience. We all know and love the Lumia with awesome features such as Pureview, PureMotion HD, etc. Models such as the Icon, 930, 1520 would fit into this group.

The Pro group is a bit of a tough one for me. I thought about this one and honestly this could easily be tossed out but then I thought about it long enough to convince myself that this should stay. There is only one model that should be in this group and that is the successor of the 1020. A lot of times, I hear people refer to the Nokia phone with the 41 megapixel camera but never hear anyone say the 1020. To make this model stand out, it should be called the Lumia Pro in the sense that one can use this device as a pro with quality app such as Lumia Camera to make them better than they really are.

Now there is obviously some distinction between the 1320 and the 730 in the Lifestyle group and this could easily be fixed by adding a descriptive word to describe them such as Max and Dual respectively. Below is how I would label them based on the four groups I discussed above. The number in the parentheses represents the current models in the market and will not be part of the branding.

Lumia Freedom (Lumia 535)
Lumia Freedom LTE (Lumia 635)
Lumia Lifestyle (Lumia 735)
Lumia Lifestyle Dual (Lumia 730 Dual)
Lumia Lifestyle Plus (Lumia 830)
Lumia Lifestyle Max (Lumia 1320)
Lumia Pure (Lumia 930, Icon)
Lumia Pure Max (Lumia 1520)
Lumia Pro (Lumia 1030)

It?s time to get rid of using numbers as part of the brand. Use it as a way to identify which model where customer support is concerned, but keep it away from marketing. If Microsoft could find a way to unveil the entire family all at once, this would be a tremendous way to capture attention at all price points.

Anyway, I thought I would get this out since it?s been running around in my head for days. Any suggestions you have about this would be most welcome. Thank you.

TL;DR: The numbering schemes is a mess. Break it down into four identifiable groups so consumers understand the difference among Lumia models. The four groups I recommend are: Freedom (low-end), Lifestyle (mid-range), Pure (high-end), and Pro (high-end w/ 41MP camera).

yes sir, you're on the right track.

I've never understood why Microsoft pays engineers to name things, and marketing folks to design a ui..... but they sure seem to.


Nokia Lumia nine thirty five ... sounds like an appointment with a foreign born banking rep for tomorrow, not a phone.

your break down of phone names sounds great. the colors don't match anything, and generally make me want to look else where, but that's an easy fix. I like the idea.



one other thing, why would you port a number FROM straight talk to att ? everyone I know is doing the opposite.

 

[BobLobIaw]

I would say that if your wife is confused as to whether she has a Samsung or a Nokia, adding an additional model name to the mix will be even more confusing. Keeping the numbering sequence puts the focus on "Lumia" and develops that brand. No matter which numbered Lumia phone the consumer purchases, the answer to the question "what phone do you have?" is "a Lumia."

 

[Loco5150]

OP, Im sorry but I think the problem is totally somewhere else...

So your wife had one of these for 2 years and she calls it Samsung?

You probably see where Im going with this...

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

OP, Im sorry but I think the problem is totally somewhere else...

So your wife had one of these for 2 years and she calls it Samsung?
View attachment 88510View attachment 88511
You probably see where Im going with this...

In her defense, some people don't even realize that is a brand name lol. I've seen people call their HTC phone hp lmao.

 

[TechmeIN64]

I said this a little while back but I think this is the way to go:

Microsoft should do six phones per year, and not use a naming scheme that potentially can confuse consumers who are not in the know (925 sounds pretty similar to 920). These are names I just arbitrarily decided on and I do not think MS should actually use them. Obviously the "1" would increase with each iteration.

Flagships (5" and 6") -- Lumia Icon 1 and Lumia Icon X 1 -- Replaces the 9xx and 15xx lines
Midrange (5" and 6") -- Lumia Mid 1 and Lumia Mid X 1 -- Replaces the 7/8xx and 13xx lines
Low End (4.5" or 5") -- Lumia Base 1 -- Replaces the 5/6xx lines
Camera Specialty (5") -- Lumia Capture 1 -- Has a huge sensor (likely with camera bump) with dedicated camera processor but other specs upper midrange to replace 1020 line, equally expensive to Icon line

I think this a a very clear and concise naming scheme. They are all obviously Lumias. The word following Lumia signifies the class of the device (Icon is the flagship class, etc), and the presence of an X means the device is a phablet (think X for XL). So the Icon 1 and Icon X 1 have the same specs with different screen sizes, like iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+. I think this scheme would work for consumers.

 

[anon(5345625)]

Frankly, I don't like that suggestion to move to a name based thing. I feel its only going to make what you want to solve worse by replacing (mostly) logical numbers with even less so names.
How do you know at first glance is better or higher up? Its hard to mess up which number is greater

I guess you can have the 1320, and I'll take the 930 then. Or the 10xx.
​Nonsense.

 

[Nicholas Maguire]

I agree that these suggestions are just as bad if not more confusing than the numbers. However, I am also one of those that agrees with getting rid of the Lumia name for flagships. The Lumia line has been tarnished.

 

[a5cent]

I've never understood why Microsoft pays engineers to name things, and marketing folks to design a ui..... but they sure seem to.

If engineers had a say in the name, the numbering scheme would at least be consistent. I also don't think that engineers are necessarily the best UI designers ;-)