Nokia to switch up naming scheme, follow Moto's lead
by Chris Ziegler 
posted Sep 7th 2006 at 2:12PM
5200, 6136, E70, N70, N73. We lost track of what's what in Nokia's soup of numbers and letters about twenty or thirty phones ago; maybe our jaded minds can't handle the constant onslaught of new devices anymore -- or perhaps we're just getting old -- but it sounds like help is mercifully on the way. After watching brands like Motorola's RAZR and LG's Chocolate dominate pockets and purses for the last couples years, our favorite Finnish phone manufacturer has dropped hints that it, too, will be switching from numbers to names for at least some of its future products. Ironically, the news comes just as HTC is going the other direction with its naming scheme, moving from names to numbers -- but with monikers like "TyTN" plaguing their stable, we're thinking that was the right move. No word on what kinds of words might pop up in the Nokia lineup, but our vote goes to names of Finnish cities (who wouldn't want a Nokia Oulu?).
Filed under: Nokia
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
teo @ Sep 7th 2006 2:31PM
Sure, there's Tornio, Kemi, Alavus, Kuhmo, Kuopio...
I likes the "Lieksa"
But very soon you start running out of internationally pronouncable names and get into
Kiuruvesi, Iisalmi, Siilinjarvi, Seinajoki, Ylistaro, etc
PaulB @ Sep 7th 2006 3:42PM
I can't wait for the Helsinki and the Espoo.
SLVRMUSTANG @ Sep 7th 2006 3:58PM
Wow, Engadget stumbled on something really cool. and now that i am excited about a phone named Helsinki phone in the future, it will probalbly be another squandered opportunity, and it will be named something like licorice
Donald @ Sep 7th 2006 10:47PM
Because of teo's comment, I'm personally hoping for European river names.
I, for one, eagerly await the Nokia Ubangi.
kirma @ Sep 8th 2006 5:55AM
Anything beats phone names like Fukr and Wnkr. It's hard to pick model numbers that would provoke hate and disgust - but it's quite trivial with words. And words are *not* universal.
Well, place names like Helsinki would do quite well, but it's more likely they go the idiotic Motorola way.
tpp @ Sep 8th 2006 12:22PM
I was born in Lieksa. That gets my vote any day :)
However the number one candidate would be the city name of Ii (pronounced like a long 'e').
There is no city called Iii, Iv, V or Vi in Finland, however.