Windows Phone 7 is the new name, 'Series' gets voted off island

Regardless of how you feel about Microsoft's rejuvenated mobile push this year, hatred of the "Windows Phone 7 Series" moniker has been nearly universal -- it's too long, it trips you up every time you try to say it (seriously, just listen to any of our podcasts), and the "Series" bit doesn't make a whole lot of sense anyhow. Happily, Microsoft has heard the world loud and clear on this one, officially changing the name today to the simpler, happier, more logical "Windows Phone 7." The branding move doesn't have any technical or strategic significance, as far as we can tell -- it truly is just a name change, that's all -- so you can expect the same software to launch later this year that we've already been anticipating... you just won't have to deal with a tongue twister every time you're trying to tell a friend about it.

[VinceInSeattle Posted Apr 2nd 2010 4:55PM]

How about PocketPC 2010? Or Zune Phone?

"Series" was a dumb addition to the name, but this name change to an already-announced product makes the entire company look dumb. Aren't my Redmond neighbors supposed to be some kinda' geniuses?

The real question is, will anyone care by the time the darn thing is out for sale? I'm dying to replace my WinMo 6 phone. Would go for Android right now except for one thing: Zune Pass is a terrific value and the Zune software and service is the best. But it might not be enough to keep me.

[TechGuru Posted Apr 2nd 2010 5:05PM]

Why didn't they do that with Zune?

[davenport Posted Apr 2nd 2010 5:29PM]

copy, paste!

[pasta Posted Apr 2nd 2010 5:31PM]

never mind how it calls, as long as from Microsoft, would be a crappy OS with lots of zero day holes in it. It's been 25+ yrs in the making, hundreds of scientists and engineers, Microsoft still couldn't produce an OS that could consider 80% done before release. If a car maker or applicants manufacturer produce such product, would see massive recall right away not to mention over-priced on products.

[lav1daloca Posted Apr 2nd 2010 6:22PM]

How stupid this company is OMG!!! I'm sick and tired of these stupid decisions they make! They can't get anything right, this is the worlds biggest software company and they can't make software!! Why are they the biggest then??? PC/Phone manufacturers need to completely abandon them! They've done too many mistakes, I'm sorry kill it now!

Why do they go from Windows Mobile 6.x to Windows Phone 7 Series? What the hell is that? Windows Phone OS is not compatible with any previous WinMo. So this software is a 1.0 software,it's a brand new untested software, what the hell does the 7 mean?

The world needs to completely abandon this company now, they are incapable to do anything.

[tome0124 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 6:42PM]

wPhone 7 vs iPhone 4G

[protolink Posted Apr 2nd 2010 7:42PM]

I just want it to be Windows Mobile Phone so it could be WinMoFo.

[zephir365 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 8:00PM]

They should call it Mobile Phone 7, so people can say: "That is one badass MoPho7 phone right there."

[divyamistry Posted Apr 2nd 2010 8:17PM]

Awesome! So we go from
WinMo
to
WinPho

I like it. Sounds like a delicious appetizer or a soup... win-phô!

[bryn987 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 8:18PM]

can't believe they reported this. Not that big of a deal imo

[Chris Ziegler Posted Apr 2nd 2010 8:19PM]

@bryn987 Believe it!

[Higgybaby Posted Apr 2nd 2010 8:43PM]

WIN_FAIL

[therealjustin Posted Apr 2nd 2010 8:53PM]

Windows Phone 7 is much better. I still want one no matter what they call it.

[MollyC Posted Apr 2nd 2010 9:20PM]

The name change is good, I guess. However:

Most people were calling it "Windows Phone 7 "already. Only those that intentionally wanted to be seen "stumbling" over the full name were going out of their way to use the full name, in order to make some juvenile point. Those same folk, I'm guessing, have never gone out of their way to use the full name of, say, Mexico, for example (the official name isn't simply "Mexico", it's "The United Mexican States" (actually "Estados Unidos Mexicanos").

Lots of things have long names for which people simply use shorter names in real life. And as I said, most people were already saying "WP7" or "Windows Phone 7". The only people I know that went out of their way to use the full name "Windows Phone 7 Series", were tech bloggers who had an agenda to do so. This was no big deal, IMO.

[anardo Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:16PM]

They should have named it the Zune OS. This way the public would call any phone running the OS a Zune. That is a good nice, and a sweet logo!

[apeguero Posted Apr 2nd 2010 10:49PM]

Seriously? Well, what about WinPhone 7? That would be cool I would think, right?

[strommsarnac Posted Apr 2nd 2010 11:28PM]

I'd much rather they kept the Series and didn't take away cut/copy/paste

[isotrex Posted Apr 2nd 2010 11:29PM]

lol. i just wondered why they changed it now. lmao.
they could've just use windows phone 7 in the first place.
i don't get it why they included the word series unless you've got some kind of product lineup. in this case it's only an operating system.
anyway, why not just call it winmo7 or windows mobile 7. i think that's much better. also, that would follow the winmo series. well anyway, it's up to them. it's just confusing and mouthful at first with the wp7s. lol.
they might wanna put some codename on it next time.

[kobioshi Posted Apr 2nd 2010 11:30PM]

I hope they keep voting... Windows Mobile 7 would have been a great name, If it ain't broke...

[Ezye1313 Posted Apr 2nd 2010 11:35PM]

Between the new iPhone and the HTC Evo 4g nobody will even remember windows phone 7.

[Kirkaiya Posted Apr 3rd 2010 12:34AM]

Crap, I tipped you guys to this just before I saw that this article was already here.

In any case, while dropping "series" is an improvement, I still think they should have just come up with a cool, single-word name like Google did with "Android", or Apple's "iPhone", or even Palm's "WebOS". They're hell-bent on sticking the word "Windows" onto the moniker for a operating system on which nary an actual window can be seen. I mean, the whole point of it is that the new UI doesn't have windows, right?

Maybe they could have hired that guy who came up with "Pentium" for Intel or something. I'm thinking something like, "Solaris" (granted, that's taken by the name of a movie, but still), or just steal from Vinge's book and call it "Epiphany OS". I thought that was a great name for an OS in Rainbows End.

[Pookiewood Posted Apr 3rd 2010 1:23AM]

@Kirkaiya You have a point! They may as well go with "Microsoft Phone 7" since there are no windows to be seen and since they have to let you know this is a "Windows" product.

[wldcohso Posted Apr 3rd 2010 3:49AM]

nice!

[Timmay86 Posted Apr 3rd 2010 6:05AM]

It's good to see MS listening to people finally.

[amirox Posted Apr 3rd 2010 11:34AM]

Why dont call it Winpho? you could add a "seven" to it if you feel more confident with that but id prefer to say: here i got my winpho instead of heres my windows phone seven (series)

cheers

from flensburg, SH (northern germany ;))

[Windows 7 Posted Apr 3rd 2010 5:50PM]

I dont care what they call it, Just launch it.

[TheHoldSteady Posted Apr 5th 2010 1:19PM]

I still advocate all tech bloggers use just 'Phone 7'. Short and no ambiguity.