Nokia to use names instead of numbers for some future models

Nokia reminds me a bit of Sony back in the day when a new CLIE PDA was released every couple months and it got to the point where not only consumers, but enthusiasts were getting confused by the names of the devices. Sony used a numbering scheme that didn't always make a lot of sense and Nokia is the same today. Most of their phones have a four number naming convention, except for the newer N-series and E-series devices and a few other oddballs like the N-Gage. Then you look at a brand like Motorola that has the RAZR, PEBL, and SLVR along with LG's new Chocolate and you see there isn't much confusion with what phone these are. I think LG and Verizon have done a good job recently with promoting the Chocolate as people I know who don't even usually care too much about phones say they want to get a Chocolate. I think most of these people are clueless about what the phone really does, but they have seen the commercials and heard the buzz and it just sounds like a good phone.

I like the Nokia devices I have used and find they are great tools, but I haven't seen a "sexy" Nokia phone that competes with the stylish RAZR or Chocolate and think Nokia needs to release something along these lines to hit the U.S. market. They definitely have the expertise and design talent to create a phone with what Michael Gartner has called "caressability" and I hope they do turn out one like this running the S60 OS. In the meantime, according to a Reuters news story Nokia has decided to start using a naming convention rather than just numbers for their mobile phones. It would have been great to see this announcement made with the launch of something like the Nokia Urge, Nokia Twist or Nokia Ace.