BlackBerry today announced that it will not renew the T-Mobile USA license to sell BlackBerry products when it expires on April 25, 2014.
“BlackBerry has had a positive relationship with T-Mobile for many years. Regretfully, at this time, our strategies are not complementary and we must act in the best interest of our BlackBerry customers. We hope to work with T-Mobile again in the future when our business strategies are aligned,” said BlackBerry CEO and Executive Chair, John Chen. “We are deeply grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers and will do everything in our power to provide continued support with your existing carrier or ensure a smooth transition to our other carrier partners.
The move will not affect current BlackBerry users on the T-Mobile network. BlackBerry and T-Mobile will continue to work together to support both these customers as well as any new ones looking to purchase a BlackBerry device from T-Mobile’s existing inventory.
BlackBerry is also working with other carriers to allow both consumers and business users to switch away from T-Mobile should they decide to remain with BlackBerry for “their long-term device and service needs.”
The move comes after a recent T-Mobile promotion that offered BlackBerry smartphone owners a chance to move to a non-BlackBerry device. The move prompted a quick and critical response from BlackBerry CEO John Chen. T-Mobile changed its promotion to offer BlackBerry users an upgrade to a BlackBerry 10 device but the move appears to have been too little too late. While BlackBerry’s decision is not clearly in response to this T-Mobile promotion, it’s almost certain that it did little to try to convince BlackBerry to renew the license.
BlackBerry may be down but the move clearly shows that it’s not out and still willing to fight to uphold its reputation. At the same time, Chen did leave the door open to working with T-Mobile again in the future: “We hope to work with T-Mobile again in the future when our business strategies are aligned.”
Source : BlackBerry