Mobile marketing causes friction between T-Mobile and BlackBerry
The CEO of the struggling Canadian handset maker is upset with the carrier for its latest efforts.
Although aggressive traditional and mobile marketing is nothing new for T-Mobile, its latest strategy has caused a great deal of tension between it and BlackBerry.
The cellular service provider sent all of its BlackBerry using customers an email encouraging a switch to iPhone 5S.
This mobile marketing campaign didn’t take long to reach BlackBerry, where the news was far from welcome. Even its CEO, John Chen, was displeased, causing him to send a personal response to the promotion. He stated that “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”, in a post that he uploaded onto his blog.
Chen wasn’t the only one who was put off by T-Mobile’s mobile marketing strategy.
Despite the fact that the number of BlackBerry customers have been rapidly shrinking, to the point that they are barely a fraction of what they formerly were when they lead the market, its core loyal customer group is a very vocal one.
In response to the outcry, the Chief Marketing Officer at T-Mobile, Mike Sievert, expressed that “The passion we’ve seen from the BlackBerry Loyal over the past couple days has been amazing. I want you to know we’ve heard you.”
Chen added in his blog that he assured the disappointed and frustrated customers that they weren’t the only ones who were feeling outraged by T-Mobile’s strategy. He also pointed out that he was confused by the fact that T-Mobile didn’t even bother to speak with BlackBerry before going ahead and launching a promotion that was “clearly inappropriate and ill-conceived.”
T-Mobile has since attempted to make amends for its decision, offering a $200 credit for any customer who would trace in a working BlackBerry device, which will be bumped up to $250 if that credit is to be used against the purchase of a new BlackBerry Q10 or Z10 device. Clearly, this has greatly changed the tone of this mobile marketing promotion when it comes to that particular brand of mobile devices.
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Lucy
Lucy is a stay at home mom that loves to write. Mother of three, she keeps herself busy, between writing and playing taxi cab! She is originally from Los Angeles and keeps herself in the trend loop with many social networking groups she has formed. She attended UCLA and has found her home as a writer for now and in the future.
