Un-carrier promotes Blackberry – and its full keyboard – for business people
As forecasted in a cryptic tweet from CEO John Legere, T-Mobile US this week announced it will begin selling the Blackberry Classic in stores and online on May 13.
The Canadian smartphone manufacturer stopped licensing T-Mobile US to sell its devices effective April 25, 2014.
At the time, CEO John Chen said the two companies’ “strategies are not complementary. … We hope to work with T-Mobile again in the future when our business strategies are aligned.”
Fast-forward to May 7; Chen said in a statement: “BlackBerry is proud to partner with T-Mobile once again to offer the world’s most secure and reliable mobile products and services that encourage productivity – whether they are individual users making the most of their day with the BlackBerry Classic, or an enterprise seeking to manage thousands of devices.
“Together with T-Mobile, we hope to deliver highly differentiated solutions that appeal to our mutual users: The power professionals who depend on their smartphones to get things done and make things happen,” he added.
Online sales start May 13 with in-store sales following on May 15. Blackberry Classic, known for its full-on QWERTY keyboard, will be offered for $0 down and $18.33 per month for two years. Full retail price is $439.92.
T-Mobile US, which has some 56.8 million subscribers, is in close competition with No. 3 carrier Sprint, which reported 57.1 million subscribers in recent financial filings.
Legere has been committed to T-Mobile US’ “un-carrier” branding and kept that tact in his comment on the Blackberry partnership.
“People who love Blackberry smartphones and want to use one on America’s fastest nationwide 4G LTE network now have that choice,” Legere said. “Bringing Blackberry into our device lineup now also stokes un-carrier 9.0, which is all about bringing the un-carrier revolution to business.”
Blackberry, once the predominant device in the U.S., has a devoted following, particularly among those who are accustomed to devices issued by large corporations or other enterprises.
