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BlackBerry Sends a Breakup Letter of Its Own to T-Mobile

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T-Mo BlackBo
A BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone sits on display for sale at a T-Mobile store on June 28, 2012.Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
By Doug Aamoth

Let’s talk about Seinfeld. In season three, episode 16 (“The Fix-Up”), Jerry and Elaine get in a heated argument. Kramer steps in and abruptly ends the argument by saying, “Now can’t you two see that you’re in love with each other?”

Really makes you think.

I’ll draw no such parallel between T-Mobile and BlackBerry, although with both companies pulling up the rear in their respective categories, you’d think that maybe they’d be able to find enough in common that they’d try to make it work.

Looks like the sun has set on this relationship, though. The April 1 date-stamp on BlackBerry’s press release aside (if this is an elaborate April Fools’ joke, it’s more sad than funny), BlackBerry head honcho John Chen is quoted as saying the following:

“BlackBerry has had a positive relationship with T-Mobile for many years. Regretfully, at this time, our strategies are not complementary and we must act in the best interest of our BlackBerry customers. We hope to work with T-Mobile again in the future when our business strategies are aligned. We are deeply grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers and will do everything in our power to provide continued support with your existing carrier or ensure a smooth transition to our other carrier partners.”

Perhaps this sounds like sour grapes, but put yourself in Chen’s position. First T-Mo stops selling BlackBerry devices in its stores. Then it sends mailers out to current BlackBerry owners to try to get them to upgrade to the iPhone 5s. Then T-Mo CEO John Legere pokes fun at Chen for not having a Twitter account, suggesting he’s on MySpace instead.

Now can’t you two see that you’re in love with each other? No? Neither can we.

BlackBerry dumps T-Mobile following “ill-conceived” ad campaign [Ars Technica]

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