Nokia to switch up naming scheme, follow Moto's lead

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?).

[Brad @ Sep 7th 2006 2:26PM]

Great. Now browsing Nokia phones is going to be like shopping at Ikea.

[Markus Varha @ Sep 7th 2006 2:39PM]

Hope they go with the Finnish cities idea and name the first one according to the city where Nokia was founded: Nokia. Also would be nice to see people trying to spell Finnish city names like "Kristiinankaupunki" or "Äänekoski" to get their sweet number-free Nokia fix.

[Jason Schoeneberg @ Sep 7th 2006 2:41PM]

Sure! I want to be the first on my block with a Nokia Espoo!

[Richard @ Sep 7th 2006 2:54PM]

SE does it best: a 2xx or 3xx is entry level, a 9xx is the top model in a particular line...so far...

[Kaptain Korolev @ Sep 7th 2006 2:56PM]

I want a Nokia Olut!

[Jontte @ Sep 7th 2006 3:11PM]

Give me my Nokia Siideri!

[sideshow_raheem @ Sep 7th 2006 3:17PM]

its about time somebody starts to put a stop to this stupid putting number as names of products. listen up marketing people, how about giving your prouduct an actual name so i can recommend it to my friends or do a google search for it with out having to break out my calculator.

[Matias Korhonen @ Sep 7th 2006 4:50PM]

About time folk stopped suggesting all the Finnish-based names. Not like I'm advocating a Nokia Kouvola/Jämsä/Karkkila/Hölmölä...

[tk. @ Sep 7th 2006 5:06PM]

who knew nokia still made phones?

*shrugs*

mmmm chocolate... delicious

[Emil @ Sep 7th 2006 6:08PM]

Nokia 3210 will now be: Nokia Kolme-Kaxi-Yxi-Zero.

[Les Doodis @ Sep 7th 2006 7:58PM]

How about the Nokia Kikkeli?

[evo @ Sep 7th 2006 9:33PM]

Now if only the &@#$ing video card manufacturers would do the same. Remember when there was just one product called simply "Radeon"?

[Unregistered & Ignorant @ Sep 7th 2006 11:33PM]

Judging by the number of phones they have rolled out with slight cosmetic or functionality taken out/added in and calling that a new model, they would have to call their phones FinnishCityA-CityTownA, then FinnishCityA-CityTownB.

[iTard @ Sep 8th 2006 2:49AM]

Nokia Hikinen Pallinahka sounds cool.

[Sidepocket @ Sep 8th 2006 4:28AM]

Actually, it's : Kolme-Kaxi-Yxi-Nolla, which still sounds very funky to me.

but here's the twist:

To get 'teen's, 'toista' is added to the base number: yxitoista, kaxitoista .... ('Toista' actually means 'of second [decade]'.

100 is 'sata', 200 is 'kaxsisataa' and so on.

1000 is 'tuhat', 2000 is 'kaxituhatta' and so on.

So, 3210 = 'kolme-tuhatta-kaxi-sataa-yxitoista' (actually written as one long word with no dashes in between).

The Minnesota market might be ready for the Nokia Kolmetuhattakaxisataayxitoista, but I doubt the rest of the world is.

Candy is the Key. Bring on the Nokia Salmiakki and Suklaa phones!

[Dave @ Sep 8th 2006 9:48AM]

OMG...a bunch of Finnerds. :)

[rex @ Sep 8th 2006 10:26AM]

actually, in saudi arabia, all nokia phones have a nick name, some are perfect (6600 was the "panda") some are weird (6630 was "faris" [horse]) and some down right evil (6680 is "shaitan" [devil]), i prefer to be good kid, so i guess 3650 ("muttawa" [preacher]) is the one for me....what about you?