If you are one of the few prevailing Crackberry fanatics, you can kiss your T-Mobile service goodbye. Blackberry CEO John Chen announced today that the company would not renew their contract with T-Mobile, which expires on April 25. Although both companies have promised pre-existing Blackberry users amnesty from the implications, T-Mobile will no longer be allowed to carry Blackberry devices in their stores.
Says Chen, “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.”
The decision rides directly on the coattails of a spat between Chen and T-Mobile CEO, John Legere, concerning a T-Mobile marketing campaign that attempted to coax Blackberry users to switch to iPhone 5s (which Chen said was “inappropriate and ill-conceived”). But the tension between these companies precedes T-Mobile’s February campaign; rumors abounded back in January that T-Mobile had dropped support for Blackberry 10 devices, due to their decision to phase Blackberry’s compatible products out of retail stores.
As it turns out, however, Chen’s decision may be inconsequential. With Blackberry ranking fourth in comScore’s latest smartphone platform market analytics, and T-Mobile ranking fourth amongst America’s wireless providers, it’s unlikely that either company will feel a huge burn from the other.
