Nokia wipes out Ovi rebrands services as Nokia

Finnish handset maker Nokia today said it will consolidate its Ovi services under brand Nokia from July.

"By centralising our services identity under one brand, not two, we will reinforce the powerful master brand of Nokia and unify our brand architecture," Chief Marketing Officer Jerri DeVard said in the company's official blog.

Nokia said the services operating under the Ovi umbrella will be rebranded as Nokia, with the transition beginning in July this year and is expected to be completed across all countries and all services by the end of 2012.

"The reasons for this decision includes the fact that Nokia is a well-known and highly-loved brand the world over. Our mobile experiences are tightly integrated with our devices — there is no longer a differentiation," DeVard said. He said the only difference consumers could expect to see is the replacement of the word Ovi with Nokia. "The difference would not only be on their device software but also in other places such as printed material or online media and advertisements," he said.

Ovi services offer applications like maps, music and media content. It was launched in 2008. In an attempt to turn the tide, it announced its alliance with Microsoft in February.