Microsoft unveils Lumia 535 smartphone without Nokia name

Microsoft Corp said it would roll out its Lumia 535 smartphone in November with an affordable price tag in its key markets, dropping the Nokia name just months after buying the Finnish company's handset business.

The Lumia 535 and Lumia 535 dual SIM, loaded with Microsoft's latest Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, will be priced at around 110 euros (about $137) before taxes and subsidies, the technology major said in a statement.

The phone will feature a wide-angle 5 megapixel front-facing camera and a 5-inch qHD display screen, Microsoft said.

Smartphones that run on Microsoft's Windows software, mostly Lumias, captured only 2.7 per cent of the global smartphone market in the second quarter, down from 3.8 per cent the year before, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

Microsoft completed its US $7.2 billion deal to buy Nokia's handset business in April. Nokia continues as a networks, mapping and technology licensing company. The Finnish company owns and manages the Nokia brand and only licenses it to Microsoft.

The American tech giant had said in the past it planned to license the Nokia brand for its lower-end mobile phones for 10 years and to use the name on its smartphones only for a "limited" time, without saying how long that might be.

(Reuters)