Nokia is to drop its company name from its subscription-based music service, Comes With Music and replace it with its popular and highly regarded Ovi brand name instead.
The Register points out that the company decided against officially publicising this change, instead choosing to leak the name change to bloggers.
A Nokia spokesperson explained its reasons for the change:
“The new name is also simpler for music fans around the world to understand, and when presented in local language, will better communicate our truly local service proposition in each market. In doing so, we are giving our users a simplified, Ovi-branded experience.”
Nokia had previously bundled subscriptions to the Comes With Music service with some on their handsets, normally users would have to pay a monthly fee for a period of between 12-24 months. This would give the customer access to unlimited DRM music downloads on their handsets which they could then keep after the subscription ended.
The Ovi brand name has established itself as Nokia aims to publicise it’s Ovi Store, an applications marketplace that is now being heavily marketed in Nokia TV commercials and also online.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
Nokia are in direct competition with Apple and it’s iTunes music service, now the largest music retailer in the US and growing in popularity across the world, will the name change make any difference? We suspect it might help convert some existing Nokia customers but ultimately the service would need a lot more exposure before it could start to challenge iTunes.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.