Microsoft rechristens 'SkyDrive' as 'OneDrive'

Summary: Microsoft has announced its replacement name for its SkyDrive cloud storage service. It's now OneDrive.

Microsoft just announce the awaited replacement name for SkyDrive, its cloud storage service.

As first spotted by Rod Trent at Windows ITPro, the new name seems to be 'OneDrive.' Microsoft is confirming the new name in a January 27 blog post.

OneDrive.com, a preview site, notes that 'OneDrive is coming soon.'

'Get ready for an even better place to store and share your favorite things across all your favorite devices,' reads the text on the site. 'OneDrive is everything you love about SkyDrive and More and it's coming soon.'

There's an email sign-up for notification about OneDrive. A pointer to a new 'OneDrive blog' sends readers to a blog populated with articles about SkyDrive.

Microsoft announced last July it would be rebranding SkyDrive, its cloud storage service, following its loss of a trademark battle with British Sky Broadcasting Group over the 'Sky' name.

The new name for SkyDrive Pro, by the way, is SkyDrive for Business, per Microsoft's blog post.

This isn't the first time Microsoft is being required to change one of its brands because of a naming dispute.

In 2012, Microsoft dropped the 'Metro' name which it had been using to refer to its new design language and user interface for Windows and Windows Phone. Company officials said Metro was just a codename, even though it was widely used in marketing and other materials. Microsoft officials never said that the reason for discontinuing Metro was due to a trademark dispute, but many company watchers believe a dispute with retailer Metro AG led to Microsoft's decision to steer clear of Metro.

Microsoft recently applied for a trademark for 'Mod,' which some believe could be its planned replacement for Metro.