There is a disturbing trend developing in the mobile industry. It seems to be limited at the moment to the two Korean manufacturers, Samsung and LG. It would appear they cannot decide on a simple naming strategy for their mobile phones.

Take the Samsung F480 as an example. Apart from the F480 model name, I have seen the phone referred to as the Libra, and more recently the ‘Touchwiz’ (who thinks of these names??) and now the Tocco. And that is just for the UK, the F480 will be known under different names in different countries/regions.

It’s crazy! And I assume if I find it confusing, and I work in the mobile industry, how do the consumers feel?

Another example would be recent handsets from LG. The KG800 was always better known as the Chocolate. Move on to the Venus. Oh no, hang on, the Venus isn’t the Venus, it’s a KF510! Then they announce the LG KF750, only to change it at the last minute and call it the LG Secret. Very confusing, and seemingly without any logic.

I wait to see what the next mess will be that one of these two manufacturers brings to the market. Let’s hope this naming problem doesn’t spread to the other handset makers.

Regardless of confusing names though, it has to be said that the Samsung Tocco is a really well specified phone – it’s very much like a 3G iPhone except that it’s available right now and is a fraction of the price!