BlackBerry will pay you $$$s to be its friend and dump that iPhone Sales-challenged BlackBerry is hoping to bribe iPhone users away from Apple with a cash offer starting next month. The Canadian mobe maker says it will pay up to $550 to fanbois who swap their iPhones for BlackBerry Passports instead. The offer will run from December 1 to February 13 in the US and Canada, and cover the iPhone …
The prices they're offering for the iPhones themselves are worse than you'd get by selling them online, they only become better if you get the additional $150 for buying the Blackberry which is effectively a rebate. This isn't encouraging theft any more than Gazelle buying used iPhones does.
I would think it would piss off loyal Blackberry owners, unless they can get similar discounts when trading in their existing Blackberries. I doubt they will though, because anyone who still sticks with Blackberry in 2014 is pretty damn loyal and RIM knows they'll buy another one regardless.
This move seems a last desperate attempt at keeping some degree of significance. They are actually giving up all their margins, if not more, in exchange for consumers trying their product with a relative low risk for the customer.
Depending on the condition of the Apple device, this could be an easy proposition for an Apple user. Consumers engaged in the trade in will get paid via a Visa pre paid card, so they could keep that card untouched until they decide to keep the BB or not. If they want to keep it, they can use the card for whatever they want. If not, they can use the card to partially fund the purchase of... another Apple device.
So on the negative side, this could backfire to BB in a very devil way: people not liking their BB and going back to Apple can actually result in increased iPhone sales volumes (and profits) and have a significant cost for BB. Not in terms of market share losses, of course, because they have little to lose from where they are today, but in financial terms.
On the positive side, this shows how far BB is willing to go in order to gain consumer loyalty, and how confident they are that iPhone users will be happy enough with their BBs. Once BB convinces them to try one, of course.
And it could be ironic to see BB generating a profit out of selling used Apple gear, but it makes sense for them to squeeze the last drop out of this offer.
Well, at least their boldness to try something different has to be acknowledged. Will MS/Nokia try a similar offer? Don't think so.
I'll tell you what Blackberry... How about a nice hot cup of go fuck yourselves. I'm certainly going to jump at the chance of swapping my $850 phone with you for $400 and the chance to own a useless brick. I can certainly see how the offer might appeal to.... no one anywhere.... ever.
As a long time BlackBerry fan I gave up on them last month. I fell in love with the 9600 Torch. The small for factor, keyboard and great software which made it an amazing device for no nonsense communication was unbeatable. It was also tough as nails. It finally broke and I was looking for a replacement Q5 or Q10. BlackBerry made all the cellular providers pull them from the shelves to try and get customers to buy the Passport which is a massive abomination that doesn't know if it wants to be a tablet or a phone.
They broke all continuity in their product line up and they wonder why their loyal customers are jumping ship.
My wife just got a passport since she was fed up with touch screen keyboards (something I can sympathise with, I'm going to miss my Pre 3 when I finally give up and upgrade).
I think its a really nice phone. I'm quite tempted to get a Q10 after seeing the passport (unlike my wife, I don't have a handbag, so I need my phone to be pocketable :), but really I'd like to see a "Q20" or so with the touch sensitive keyboard idea from the Passport.
I'd wait a couple more weeks for the Q20 (Classic). I like the Passport for the large screen and touch KB, but you do need both hands to operate it. The Classic though is definitely their best one handed device. I watched a video demonstration of the Toolbelt and optical trackpad on the Q20 and it eliminates the need to swipe or touch the screen, you can operate it with one thumb... it's a true one handed device.
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