BlackBerry Offers iPhone Users $550 to Trade Up
- Thursday, November 27th, 2014
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BlackBerry has launched a Trade Up initiative, which offers iPhone users as much as $550 to trade in their iPhone for the BlackBerry Passport.
The promotion applies to any iPhone from the 4S and up, with a trade-in value of up to $400 depending on the handset, plus a $150 BlackBerry top-up. Customers also receive a Passport, which launched in September, and is notable for being the device that reintroduced the QWERTY keypad which was once the companys hallmark, as part of BlackBerrys renewed focus on the business market.
The offer, which will run in the US and Canada from 1 December, looks like a desperate measure from the struggling manufacturer, which reported – but as BlackBerrys strategy evolves, selling handsets neednt be its only source of revenue.
BBM ad partnerships
BlackBerry has also announced partnerships with Blyk and Habari Media, in an effort to expand its ad sales network on BBM.
Through these partnerships, and two more with unnamed companies, BlackBerry is aiming to makes its ad offering more region-specific, with Habari representing BBM in Africa.
Its all part of the messaging apps new monetisation strategy, following a pivot earlier this year which took BBM, previously exclusive to BlackBerry, onto Android and iOS for the first time. The move was intended to grow BBMs userbase – it now reports over 90m monthly active users – so that it can monetise them via in-app ads, targeted based on user data, and sponsored content, including brand posts and stickers.