Nokia plans to drop the Ovi brand name from its services by the end of 2012 after the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones agreed to shift to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 as its main smartphone platform.

The company’s mobile services, including maps, music tracks, e-mail, contacts backup and downloadable applications for phones, will be known in future simply as Nokia services,

Nokia spokesman James Etheridge also said speculation that the company may sell its mobile phones unit to Microsoft is inaccurate.

– (Bloomberg)