The fact that Blackberry has lost ground to Android and iOS is no secret, but an internal memo accesed by TmoNews shows just how many customers Blackberry is losing.
Based on the memo, TmoNews reported that T-mobile customers using Blackberry are dumping their devices. In fact, 94 percent of the customers are participating in a trade-in program announced last month by the carrier service provider. Instead of Blackberry, customers are switching to other manufacturers.
T-Mobile's CMO stated that the trade-in offer has caused customers to give up 15 times the number of devices normally being traded in.
"According to the field sales news update, 94% of all the people trading in their BlackBerry phones switched to non-BlackBerry devices," the news report read.
T-mobile's trade-in program for Blackberry users was announced after the service provider drew flak from BB loyalists for tempting its clients to shift to iPhone. At the time, T-mobile offered its BB users to shift to iPhone 5s for $0 down, as reported by LA Times. Blackberry CEO John Chen expressed his unhappiness in a blog post when he reminded T-mobile of its successful relationship with Blackberry.
Last month's trade-in program offered loyal customers $200 credit when they upgraded to newer devices. Those who picked up Blackberry 10 OS devices like the Z10 were offered a $50 discount.
TmoNews further said, "It's certainly an interesting lesson in marketing, and response to customers. The initial marketing was perhaps not well thought through, and the loudness of the criticism from BlackBerry fans was almost deafening at times. T-Mobile, though, used this very public criticism as a tool, turned it around and played a winning card. Despite wanting to fiercely protect its brand, BlackBerry ended up losing customers, and T-mobile had a successful marketing campaign."
