[donmateo]

Late last week, T-Mobile emailed an offer targeting BlackBerry users on its network asking them to switch their BlackBerry devices to a competitor’s smartphone. As we were never told of their plans in advance, I can only guess that T-Mobile thought its “great offer for BlackBerry customers” would be well received. T-Mobile could not have been more wrong.

I want to thank our loyal customers for your commitment to BlackBerry. By expressing your outrage directly to T-Mobile ‎through tweets, calls and comments in the media and on blog posts, you sent a powerful message that T-Mobile could not ignore. Your partnership with our brand is appreciated by all of us at BlackBerry, and draws a sharp contrast with the behavior of our longtime business partner.

I can assure you that we are outraged too. What puzzles me more is that T-Mobile did not speak with us before or after they launched this clearly inappropriate and ill-conceived marketing promotion.

To the BlackBerry user community, I want to extend our deepest gratitude. Y‎our passion motivates us every day as we navigate our turnaround. And for our loyal customers on the T-Mobile network, know that we have an offer in the works designed especially for you. Watch this space for an update very soon.

Finally, to T-Mobile, I would like to remind you that our long-standing partnership was once productive and profitable for both BlackBerry and T-Mobile. I hope we can find a way forward that allows us to serve our shared customers once again. Notwithstanding the current challenge, we remain very excited about BlackBerry’s future.

Full article: BlackBerry CEO, John Chen on T-Mobile’s Anti-BlackBerry Campaign | Inside BlackBerry

[donmateo]

Duly served justice, Mr. Chen. Huge kudos to you. I hope you should consider a similar notice to other US carriers withholding updates and devices.

[GreenCopperz]

Great to see action of this type! Bravo!

Posted via CB10

[propeller10]

Blackberry userbase is tiny but vocal. It's impressive how they got the attention of T-Mobile CEO himself. Good work.

[deptech]

Looks like BlackBerry has a plan in the works for existing customers, I would imagine this will be catered to BBOS customers.

Z30 on 10.2.1.537 in Canada

[93Aero]

But did he really just say "soon".

Posted via CB10

[Andrew4life]

Blackberry userbase is tiny but vocal. It's impressive how they got the attention of T-Mobile CEO himself. Good work.

To be fair, T-Mobile's CEO is not your run of the mill CEO. He's pretty crazy and will do anything to make Tmobile number 1. This includes listening to users on twitter and responding to criticism. He's probably the only CEO to make his name know out there in Social media.



Posted via CB10

[mikeo007]

Well a good surprise would be an ultra cheap device upgrade.

A not so good surprise would be 99 cent movies that expire after 30 days.

Let's hope Blackberry changes their track record with this "surprise"

[tryfe]

My hero!

Posted via CB10

[alan510]

Blackberry userbase is tiny but vocal. It's impressive how they got the attention of T-Mobile CEO himself. Good work.

I'm not sure the BlackBerry user base is as tiny as new sales figures (defined as market share) suggest. I know lots and lots of people with legacy BlackBerry devices. But I certainly agree with you that Chen's response is an excellent one. Let's hope he's been on the phone with carrier CEOs to talk about their "support" for the company.

[mountainman]

I would like to see Chen and Legere in a "robust" face-to-face conversation. It would be epic.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Mobile Nations mobile app

[randall2580]

Considering the "shop" part of the TMob website consists of the Curve 9315, and refurbs of the 9315 and the Q10 when filtered for BlackBerry, the days of a long-standing partnership that was once productive for both seems long gone. Time for Mr Chen to put the Z30 on the website sim free for GSM providers here in the States at a price none of us could say no to.

[Gykesdollars]

And what has Chen got to say about the reluctance by other US carriers to push the 10.2.1 update??? Smh

He waited for the "loyal customers" to front-line the battle against T-Mobile, only to fire a single shot at the sound victory...

#NigerianProverb "A hero enters the war in the very beginning, and should be ready take or receive the first shot"!!!

Z10STL100-1/10.2.1.2141 "the iPhone NEMESIS"

[Carjackd]

It's going to be interesting to see how this unfolds. Going to keep watching the link to see what Mr. Chen throws on the table for BlackBerry Loyalists. Have I mentioned lately how much I luv it every time he speaks.

Posted Via my Kick @ss BlackBerry Z30

[sixpacker]

Duly served justice, Mr. Chen. Huge kudos to you. I hope you should consider a similar notice to other US carriers withholding updates and devices.

And what does such a public fallout with your key partners actually achieve in business terms?
Nothing good can come from this.

Posted via the Android CrackBerry App!

[sleepngbear]

Gotta love it. Nice to see the CEO is in touch with what's going on on the ground.

[sleepngbear]

And what does such a public fallout with your key partners actually achieve in business terms?
Nothing good can come from this.

Posted via the Android CrackBerry App!

Quite the contrary, in my opinion -- Chen and BBRY have nothing to lose at this point. If T-Mo wants to sever ties with BBRY, there are certainly more prudent ways to go about it than a promotional campaign. Whether you're a BB fan or not, the move was weak by T-Mo, and is cause for more bad blood than Chen addressing it in public.

[Tre Lawrence]

Quite the contrary, in my opinion -- Chen and BBRY have nothing to lose at this point. If T-Mo wants to sever ties with BBRY, there are certainly more prudent ways to go about it than a promotional campaign. Whether you're a BB fan or not, the move was weak by T-Mo, and is cause for more bad blood than Chen addressing it in public.

On the one hand, I think BBRY has more to lose, but part me agrees with the idea of coming out blazing.

But don't carriers do this all the time? I seem to recall getting promo stuff asking me to move to iPhone last year. If I don't want to, I won't. I thing it is fallacy to expect the carriers to be neutral observers with regards to phone sales.

[collinc93]

And what does such a public fallout with your key partners actually achieve in business terms?
Nothing good can come from this.

Posted via the Android CrackBerry App!

...Didnt they fire the first shot? Boy some people can be impossibly dense!! "I have not yet begun to fight!!" Captain John Paul Jones...aka John Chen. (Damn the torpedoes...full speed ahead!!)

[sixpacker]

Quite the contrary, in my opinion -- Chen and BBRY have nothing to lose at this point. If T-Mo wants to sever ties with BBRY, there are certainly more prudent ways to go about it than a promotional campaign. Whether you're a BB fan or not, the move was weak by T-Mo, and is cause for more bad blood than Chen addressing it in public.

The t-mo offer was undoubtedly a breech of an agreement with BlackBerry. Chen needed to strongly complain about this. However, the tone of the public statement seems more about bravado than trying to rebuild a relationship with a key partner and retail outlet.
I suspect fun for the bbry faithful but lousy for business. But hey business is lousy anyway.

Posted via the Android CrackBerry App!

[ibpluto]

Pretty clear T-mobile intends to drop BlackBerry, and wants to make sure they lock as many current BlackBerry users up before they announce that.

Perhaps Chen can Team up with AT&T and see how they can get current BlackBerry Users from T-mobile onto a Carrier that plans on supporting BlackBerry.

[sixpacker]

...Didnt they fire the first shot? Boy some people can be impossibly dense!! "I have not yet begun to fight!!" Captain John Paul Jones...aka John Chen. (Damn the torpedoes...full speed ahead!!)

Yeah right it's a war with one of your main business partners. Great way of looking at business /life....

Posted via the Android CrackBerry App!

[raino]

I thing it is fallacy to expect the carriers to be neutral observers with regards to phone sales.

Carriers' product#1 is their network. TMO of all carriers (the "UnCarrier",) should understand this. What difference does it make to them what phone I have, as long as I keep paying them for monthly service? Since they have no service contracts, couldn't I just get an iPhone from them for $600 (putting the extremely generous $48 discount they're giving me towards unlocking it) and bolt to AT&T?

[sentimentGX4]

Chen's statement is likely to exacerbate its relation with T-Mobile/Deutsche Telekom. Furthermore, the abrasive tone of his letter rallying devout fans is a sign of instability and will alienate other partners as well. The entire letter, while a great service to fans, is poor posture and unusually undiplomatic for a business.

The t-mo offer was undoubtedly a breech of an agreement with BlackBerry. Chen needed to strongly complain about this.

How do you know this?

[trwallace]

obviously there are huge supporters for blackberry. if you look at the history of apple and what brought them back from the brink it was their huge forum groups and supporters. This is what holds blackberry together. im sure its very noticeable to the people at the top that blackberry people are loyalists and even the ones who have switched only need a gentle push and a few new features to get them black on the platform. lets hope the wait isnt a long one. With john chen it appears it wont be.