T-Mobile touched off a firestorm among faithful BlackBerry users when it sent an email letting them know that they could trade in their old handset for a brand new iPhone 5S with no down payment. After getting blasted on Twitter, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said that he had heard BlackBerry users “loud and clear.”
But for BlackBerry CEO John Chen, the fight isn’t over.
In a post on the company’s Inside BlackBerry blog entitled “BlackBerry’s Response to T-Mobile’s Anti-BlackBerry Campaign,” Chen said that the company was “outraged” over T-Mobile’s “clearly inappropriate and ill-conceived marketing promotion.” In addition, he was particularly incensed over the fact that T-Mobile didn’t tell BlackBerry it was going to run the promotion.
Chen has his back up against the wall, trying to right a rapidly sinking ship that is losing market share to Android, iOS and Windows Phone. But maybe it’s time for Chen to take a chill pill.
For one, Legere said that T-Mobile is going to support BlackBerry going forward. And what’s more, while Chen may be full of outrage, it’s not reasonable to expect T-Mobile to tell them about every marketing email the company sends.
Every remaining customer counts for BlackBerry at this point. But they’re better off worrying more about how they can make a phone that people want to buy, rather than feeling slighted by a marketing effort.
T-Mobile, for its part, is trying to play the peacemaker, saying in a statement to GeekWire that the company plans to offer free expedited shipping of BlackBerry devices. It also said that customer can still bring their unlocked BlackBerry phones to T-Mobile.
“We are happy to be a BlackBerry partner and apologize for any confusion,” the statement said.
