New York: BlackBerry is ending its U.S. licensing deal with T-Mobile, saying the companies no longer have complementary strategies.
The disconnect appears to be related to a T-Mobile promotion that BlackBerry took issue with last month.
In a blog post in February, BlackBerry CEO and Executive Chair John Chen said that T-Mobile had emailed an offer targeting BlackBerry users on its network asking them to switch their BlackBerry devices to a competitor's smartphone. Chen said that BlackBerry had not been told of T-Mobile's plans in advance and thanked its customers for expressing their displeasure. Chen told its customers that BlackBerry was upset about the offer and that T-Mobile hadn't spoken with the Canadian company before or after launching the promotion.
BlackBerry's existing licensing agreement with T-Mobile U.S. Inc. expires on April 25.
Once the deal ends, BlackBerry customers on the T-Mobile network shouldn't see any change in their service or support, Blackberry said.
BlackBerry Ltd., formerly known as Research In Motion, 2said that it will work with T-Mobile to help any BlackBerry customers remaining on the T-Mobile U.S. network or any customers buying devices from T-Mobile's existing inventory.
