Microsoft is planning to stop using the Nokia and Windows Phone brands this holiday season in its marketing materials. GeeksOnGadgets has obtained an internal Microsoft document that details the company's guidelines for its own brands, and The Verge can confirm the material is authentic and accurate. "As part of our phased transition, we will drop the manufacturer name [Nokia] from product references during the Holiday campaign," reads one of the slides. Microsoft is also planning not to use the Windows Phone logo in promotions and commercials, instead it will be replaced with just Windows.

Windows will take the place of Windows Phone, with Lumia for phone models

Although the death of the Nokia brand is understandable given that Microsoft only acquired the phone business from the Finnish company, a move to shy away from the Windows Phone brand marks a strategy shift. It's not exactly surprising given some of the company's recent moves though. Microsoft’s latest commercials for the Lumia 930 don’t even mention Windows Phone at all. In fact, Microsoft refers to Windows Phone simply as Windows. HTC’s new One M8 for Windows also drops the Windows Phone name in favor of just Windows. Likewise, Microsoft’s latest Cortana ads don’t even mention Windows Phone apart from a small URL during the entire 30-second spots. Promotional videos for the latest Lumia 530, Lumia 730, and Lumia 830 handsets also fail to mention Windows Phone.



Our original hands-on for Windows Phone 8.1

All this recent evidence led us to speculate whether Microsoft is simply planning to just use Windows for its brand in the future, and that appears to be the case. The Windows Phone to Windows shift is clearly underway now, and it's likely related to the upcoming combined version of Windows RT and Windows Phone which is expected to debut in spring 2015. Microsoft is gradually executing on its one Windows vision with universal apps across phone, PC, and Xbox, and one way to communicate that is by dropping the Windows Phone brand for marketing purposes. That doesn't mean the Windows Phone operating system is dead, just that Microsoft won't be using it as a brand in marketing materials in future. The Verge reached out to Microsoft for comment, but a spokesperson says the company has "nothing to share" about the Nokia and Windows Phone rebranding efforts.

Update (16:20 ET): article updated with Microsoft comment.