Enterprise and Government Customers Can Save Money on BlackBerry 7 Smartphones with New "Trade-Up and Recycle Program"
ATERLOO, ONTARIO, Aug 16, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- A new program from Research In Motion (RIM)can save enterprise and government customers on the costs of upgrading to BlackBerry(R) 7 smartphones while also helping with the responsible recycling of old devices. RIM announced today that it is working with e-Cycle LLC to offer a new trade-up and recycle program to customers in the United States.
Under the program, enterprise and government customers can get a rebate of up to $100 per device purchased when they trade in an older BlackBerry smartphone for the purchase of a new BlackBerry 7 smartphone(i).
"RIM is pleased to work with e-Cycle to help customers upgrade their older BlackBerry smartphones to the latest BlackBerry 7 models, while also helping to facilitate responsible recycling," said Richard Piasentin, Managing Director for the U.S. at RIM.
"This program provides BlackBerry customers with a cost effective way to upgrade to the latest BlackBerry smartphones and helps reduce the impact on the environment by diverting electronic waste from landfills," said Christopher Irion, e-Cycle founder and CEO.
This has been available for consumers in Canada for a while. Glad to see they're expanding it to the US. For a single device it doesn't really make sense since they offer way less than the market value of the phone, but as a corporation replacing dozens of phones, the time savings is probably worth the difference in device value.
The trade up program has been around for a while for those in the US as well, even for those trading up in bulk. There was extensive discussion about it when the OS7 devices dropped a year ago. This looks lke some kind of PR or marketing push for something that's not new at all.
