BlackBerry will pay you money to ditch your iPhone

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Photo: BlackBerry
Photo: BlackBerry

In a marketing campaign I can only assume is some kind of meta-parody designed to go viral, BlackBerry is offering a so-called “Trade-Up” program designed to get iPhone owners to jump ship to the new BlackBerry Passport.

From December 1 until February 13, disgruntled iPhone owners can “upgrade” to the BlackBerry Passport and receive up to $400 for their iPhones, plus an extra $150 (or $200 CAD) from BlackBerry. To take advantage of the “deal” customers must pick up their BlackBerry Passports from either ShopBlackBerry.com or Amazon.

iPhones included in the offer include the iPhone 4s, 5, 5c, 5s, and 6 — which is ironic because it just misses out on 2010’s iPhone 4: a device that nearly half of UK BlackBerry owners earlier this year revealed they’d love to switch to if given the chance.

Perhaps the strangest thing about the entire “Trade-Up” offer is just how closely it mirrors a previous T-Mobile campaign carried out to get BlackBerry users to switch to iPhones.

A massive 94% of BlackBerry users reportedly traded in their phones for a different device during the promotion, which ultimately resulted in BlackBerry pulling its handsets from T-Mobile out of anger. BlackBerry CEO John Chen claimed to be “outraged” by the offer, and labelled it a “clearly inappropriate and ill-conceived marketing promotion.”

Guess it’s different when the shoe’s on the other foot, though?

If you are tempted to cash in your iPhone for a BlackBerry Passport, check out the below chart for how much you can expect to get for it.

BlackBerry

Via: iClarified

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