The recovering handset maker will pay up to $400, and then a top-up of $200 when Apple users choose Passport smartphones.
In a new strategy to draw customers back to the BlackBerry experience and gain another opportunity to prove itself, the handset maker will be paying iPhone users to switch their smartphones.
The company, based in Canada, will be paying those customers as much as $600 to dump an iPhone for a Passport.
The actual amount that customers would receive for the switch depends on the type of iPhone device they have, and where they live. For example, both Canadian and American Apple smartphone users are able to obtain a trade in value of up to $400 for devices at an iPhone 4S level or higher. The newer the model, the greater the trade in value would be. For instance, it would be those that trade in the iPhone 6 or 6S that would be most eligible to for the full value from BlackBerry.
That said, BlackBerry will be giving a different top up amount to Americans and Canadian iPhone users.
Canadians will receive a top up of $200 from the handset manufacturer, whereas those from the U.S. are eligible for a top-up of $150. The company has been careful to clarify that it will be only consumers in North America who will be eligible to take advantage of the trade-in program. Moreover, it won’t simply be any iPhone that will be accepted. One important stipulation that has been made is that the mobile devices must be in working condition.
The promotion has already been officially announced, but it will not begin until December 1. This promotion will continue to run until February 15, 2015. Clearly, this promotion is in time for the holiday shopping season and will continue into the post-holiday season, as well, into the new year.
The trade in promotion requires that the iPhone users must purchase a new BlackBerry smartphone from the company’s official online shop or from the Amazon website. The money will be paid to participating customers by way of prepaid Visa gift cards which will be mailed to those customers within six weeks of receipt of the iPhone as well as a Passport proof of purchase.
