BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s new ‘Passport’ smartphone received mixed reactions from consumers. So in order to pump up the sales of its new smartphone and regain the lost ground in phone business, BlackBerry has come up with a new tactics. Will BlackBerry’s new tactic work? A ‘CBCNews’ article discussed in detail about the tactics that BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) is planning to use to increase the ‘Passport’ sales.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s CEO John Chen announced on Monday that the ‘Passport’ Phone will also be available in two more colors, red and white in addition to the already available black colored model. On Monday, Canadian phone makers announced that they would pay up to $600 for people who opt to switch from iPhones to ‘Passport’.
Canadian phone users with iPhone 4s or newer versions become eligible to a trade-in value of up to $400 in addition to a $200 top-up from BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY). It was slightly different for US users though. US users with latest iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 plus are eligible for highest trade-in value up to $400 and a top up of $150.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) also announced that only North American users are eligible for this offer and the traded iPhones must be in a good condition for the trade. BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) announced the details of the offer on its blog post stating that that users willing to trade their iPhones must purchase a new BlackBerry phone from either BlackBerry’s online shop or Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMNZ). They added that the user will get the trade-in value money only on a prepaid visa gift card, which will be mailed to the user within 6 weeks from the iPhone submission and proof for new BlackBerry phone purchase. They announced that the offer starts on 1 December and extends till 15 Feb 2015.
But, even before this offer kicks off, an ‘International Business Times’ article reported that BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s ‘Passport’ is topping Amazon’s charts as best-selling unlocked smartphone during early ‘Black-Friday’ sales.
For ‘Black-Friday’ Sales the ‘Passport’ unlocked phone price was reduced to $499 from its original price of $699. A $200 discount offer provided by BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) to capitalize on the holiday season sales and pump up its sales. It is currently sitting top in the list of Amazon’s best-selling unlocked smartphone though.
Will the new trade-in offer persuade more Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) consumers to buy BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s ‘Passport’ phone or will Apple come up with a new tactic to stop the user migration towards BlackBerry?
Disclosure: None
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