Microsoft is to drop both the Nokia and Windows Phone brand names in favour of just using Lumia. The company is beginning a transition to change all of its branding to simply Microsoft Lumia, just in time for the holiday season. The Finnish firm Nokia will live on as a separate company, though, focusing on mapping and network infrastructure. A report by The Verge says Microsoft is preparing to axe the Nokia name. The change by the Washington firm will see phones simply called Microsoft Lumia from now on (Lumia 730 shown). Both the Nokia brand name and Windows Phone are being dropped in the shake-up of Microsoft's phone business
@highlight
Nokia France has confirmed that they will now be called 'Microsoft Lumia'
@highlight
'We are on the verge of becoming Microsoft Lumia!' they wrote on their Facebook page
@highlight
The change by the Washington firm will see phones called Microsoft Lumia
@highlight
Both the Nokia brand name and Windows Phone are being dropped
@highlight
It brings to an end nearly three decades of Nokia phones
@highlight
But it's unclear if the change will affect existing phones or just new releases
@highlight
Microsoft bought Nokia's phone business for £4.5bn ($7.2 bn) in April
@highlight
However Finnish firm Nokia lives on as a separate company
'Remember, @placeholder started almost 150 years ago with just one paper mill.
@placeholder has been quick to assure customers that the company will live on, albeit no longer in the mobile phone business.
He continued: ‘We may not be the same @placeholder of several years ago, but we are here, we are strong, and our brand is very much still alive.