Microsoft has officially announced it will phase out the Nokia name from its Lumia smartphone range, following its acquisition of the Finnish company's handset business this April.

In the coming weeks and months, consumers will begin to see the effects of Microsoft's effort to sweep out the Nokia name from its Windows Phone-powered line of Lumia smartphones. The process has already begun for some apps (such as Nokia Camera, now called Lumia Camera ), and will now take effect for its Nokia Lumia social accounts including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which will renamed to Microsoft Lumia.

Microsoft's senior vice president of marketing for phones Tuula Rytilä laid out the plan this morning on the Nokia Conversations blog, itself destined for a new Microsoft site. The update follows reports that a Nokia name purge was looming.

Microsoft is also rebranding its global and local websites which, naturally, will flow through to its devices, packaging, and retail materials, which should in the future be marked 'Microsoft Lumia'.

And, according to Rytilä, Microsoft will be unveiling its first Microsoft Lumia device "soon".

Under Microsoft, the Nokia devices and services business has produced a handful of Windows Phone Lumia devices with the Nokia name, with recent examples include the Nokia Lumia 730, 735, and 830 and the cheaper Lumia 530 .

The move away from Nokia branding for its Windows Phone line is not surprising. Today's update provides some clarity about how and when the changes will occur — some of which was implied in the agreements struck during the acquisition.

When Microsoft acquired Nokia's devices and services business earlier this year, along with a 10-year deal on Nokia's trove of mobile patents, Microsoft also got the rights to use Nokia's name in connection with feature phones for the next decade.

Prior to that, for Lumia devices Microsoft was fumbling around with the term 'Nokia Lumia Windows Phone'. As then CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer commented, Microsoft wanted to do better than that for consumers.

Rytilä confirmed that it will continue using the Nokia name for its entry level devices such as the Nokia 130 , the first basic phone that Microsoft introduced since the acquisition.

The launch of the 130 was notable since it followed Microsoft's announcement that it would phase out its Asha and S40 feature phones . The Nokia 130 however was a Series 30 handset and at $25 this falls into the sub-$35 category that sell in volumes of around 300 million a year globally.

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