{"id":32964,"date":"2014-11-26T22:28:53","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T14:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=32964"},"modified":"2014-11-26T22:28:53","modified_gmt":"2014-11-26T14:28:53","slug":"blackberry-says-itll-pay-iphone-customers-up-to-600-to-switch-phones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/11\/26\/blackberry-says-itll-pay-iphone-customers-up-to-600-to-switch-phones\/","title":{"rendered":"BlackBerry says it’ll pay iPhone customers up to $600 to switch phones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"blackberry\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BlackBerry hopes a $600 incentive will convince iPhone users to swap their touchscreen Apple device for a keyboard-equipped BlackBerry Passport.<\/p>\n

The Waterloo, Ontario-based technology company plans to launch the holiday promotion in December, giving customers up to $400 of trade-in value, depending on which model of iPhone they have.<\/p>\n

It’ll also offer those who switch up to an additional $200 through a prepaid credit card.<\/p>\n

The deep discount is only available to North American customers who order through Amazon or Blackberry’s online store before Feb. 13.<\/p>\n

BlackBerry is trying to claw its way back into the spotlight this holiday shopping season with a series of promotions that include a limited-edition Passport phone in red, a white model and alternative financing options for U.S. customers.<\/p>\n

The company also plans to release another model, the BlackBerry Classic, an updated version of its popular older keyboard smartphones, on Dec. 17.<\/p>\n

BlackBerry is in the midst of a turnaround plan that has involved CEO John Chen scaling back the size of the company while refocusing its priorities on corporate clients, rather than the consumer market.<\/p>\n

However the latest round of discounts are clearly angled at enticing shoppers who will head to the malls, and e-commerce retailers, over the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday this weekend.<\/p>\n

Whether the promotional campaign will be successful remains to be seen, said CIBC analyst Todd Coupland.<\/p>\n

“If iPhone 6 buyers wanted a Passport they would’ve bought one,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You’ll get some guys probably around the margin, but I’d be surprised if this has a major impact.”<\/p>\n

The Canadian smartphone maker launched the BlackBerry Passport in late September touting it as a better device for business users.<\/p>\n

While BlackBerry hasn’t released updated sales figures for the Passport, Chen said the company received 200,000 orders for the device within the first two days of its release.<\/p>\n

Coupland suggested BlackBerry is trying to extend the initial spike in sales, which is common when a new device is released to the market.<\/p>\n

“The predominant strategy for the company is to transition the service revenue to software revenue by managing all flavours of software devices,” he added.<\/p>\n

“If they can sell a few devices along the way, fine.”<\/p>\n

BlackBerry said the trade-in offer applies to users who have iPhone 4S, 5, 5C, 5S, and 6 models.<\/p>\n

Shares of BlackBerry rose 12 cents to $11.88 near midday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BlackBerry hopes a $600 incentive will convince iPhone users to swap their touchscreen Apple device for a keyboard-equipped BlackBerry Passport. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":32966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,19,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-business","category-technology","mauthors-david-friend","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}