It was in April earlier this year when we brought you news that BlackBerry and T-Mobile have parted ways because of a U.S. licensing agreement, and not too long after that, T-Mobile offered their subscribers a $200 incentive in order to “upgrade” to a Samsung, although if you were to look at it from a neutral standpoint, it would be more of a change of hardware than an “upgrade”. Still, it seems that as many as up to 50,000 T-Mobile subscribers actually decided to switch to other smartphones from a BlackBerry since then, at least according to an internal memo.
Back in March/April T-Mobile and BlackBerry had something of a public fallout. T-Mo had been reaching out to existing BlackBerry-toting customers offering them an upgrade to an iPhone. BlackBerry’s chief responded, calling the marketing effort “inappropriate and ill-conceived”. After various back and forths involving a trade-in offer and a $100 ShopBlackBerry discount, T-Mobilelaunched a new “loyalty offer” in April. Customers upgrading their BlackBerry phones for a Samsung would get a $200 prepaid credit card sent to them in the mail. In short: T-Mo really wanted customers to swap their BlackBerry for a Samsung-made phone. But, if you happened to go with another manufacturer’s device, you’d get a $100 rebate. In an internal memo today, it’s been revealed that T-Mobile has since upgraded 50,000 BlackBerry users to new devices. And if I had to guess, I’d suggest not many of those 50,000 upgraded to a new BlackBerry, since the two companies have ended their professional relationship.
