WATERLOO, ON – BlackBerry and T-Mobile are calling it quits. At least for now.
The Canadian smartphone maker said late Tuesday that it will not renew its licence agreement with T-Mobile U.S., Inc. when it expires on April 25, 2014. BlackBerry added that customers on the T-Mobile network should not see any difference in their service or support, and pledged to assist customers remaining on the T-Mobile U.S. network or any customer purchasing devices from T-Mobile's existing inventory.
BlackBerry CEO and executive chair John Chen said that the two companies “strategies are not complementary”, and that he hoped to work with T-Mobile again in the future “when our business strategies are aligned”.
The split may be fallout from a T-Mobile promotion in February that targeted BlackBerry users on its network with an offer asking them to switch their BlackBerry devices to a competitor’s smartphone. Chen took issue with that in a blog post, noting that T-Mobile “did not speak with us before or after they launched this clearly inappropriate and ill-conceived marketing promotion”.
BlackBerry added that it is working closely with other carrier partners to provide consumers and business users with alternatives should they decide to transition to another carrier and remain with BlackBerry.
– Lesley Hunter
