Nokia has announced that it's changing its services branding away from the Ovi name and consolidating it under the far more recognisable Nokia name instead. This is purely a re-naming strategy and doesn't affect the services themselves. Read on to find out more about the Nokia re-branding.

Things are changing across the whole of Nokia right now and one of the questions being asked internally must have been, 'why have two brand names when one will do?' The name Nokia is synonymous with quality in mobile communications, so focussing purely on that name for hardware and services makes perfect sense.

It's worth bearing in mind that while the Ovi name will be phased out, all services will continue. So, Location, Messaging, Music, Store and Life Tools services will continue to be available to consumers around the world. The name change means we can expect Ovi Maps to become Nokia Maps, and the likes of Ovi Chat and Ovi Mail to also come under the Nokia banner.

The transition to Nokia across the whole range will begin in July 2011 but isn't expected to be fully complete until the end of 2012. You'll still find Ovi branding on your current device for some time, but this will be switched to Nokia services as part of future software updates.

For instance, the Symbian Anna update for the likes of Nokia N8, Nokia E7 and Nokia C7 is too far along to make branding changes, but the update after that we'll see Ovi services being changed. It's also thought that any devices launching from the third quarter of this year will start to show Nokia Services branding instead of Ovi.

We think the move to consolidate the brand name is a positive one, after all Nokia is the brand name users around the world know and trust, so tying the hardware and services together makes the decision even easier.

What do you think, is this the right move for Nokia? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments below.