BlackBerry and T-Mobile have decided to collaborate again. As a manifestation of the renewed alliance, the mobile carrier will begin vending BlackBerry Classic smartphones starting next week. In detail, online sales of the model will initiate May 13, while it will hit the brick-and-mortar T-Mobile stores on the 15th.
BlackBerry retracts earlier comments
The new development marks the end of a dispute between the two companies that began last year when T-Mobile started sending e-mails to BlackBerry customers persuading them to switch to iPhones. In response, BlackBerry CEO John Chen criticized such an act, terming it as “inappropriate and ill-conceived.”
T-Mobile tried to make it up to the Canadian company afterward by providing BlackBerry consumers a trade-in discount of $250 that made it easier for them to upgrade to a Z10 or Q10. In addition, the company tendered to those customers a trade-in cash-back amount of $200 on an upgrade to any other smartphone. Consequently, 94% of such users preferred to switch to other smartphones rather than a BlackBerry handset.
Further, last April, the Canadian smartphone marker claimed that it will not renew its licensing agreement with T-Mobile. In this regard, Chen opined that the strategies of the companies do not “complement” each other. However, the company’s latest decision to work with T-Mobile suggests something completely different.
Now BlackBerry, in association with T-Mobile, seeks to develop extensively differentiated solutions for consumers than are common to both companies. This will be accompanied by the promotion of BlackBerry handsets by T-Mobile.
Win-win deal for both
The renewed partnership with BlackBerry is also aimed at attracting business users. Moreover, the recent partnership might also contribute to the user base of BlackBerry, which earlier accounted for just 1% of the total T-Mobile customers.
On the other hand, T-Mobile, which was struggling once, has managed to increase its user base by adding millions of new customers and is now looking to strengthen its place in the business market. Moreover, recently, the mobile carrier offered less expensive models for business customers that it claims are cheaper than those offered by its competitors AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile will provide its customers with a BlackBerry Classic at $440 or for $18 per month for two years starting next week.
