Blackberry to Pay iPhone Users to Trade In their Handsets for Passport

Blackberry is putting its comeback plan on high gear this holiday with a direct marketing assault on Apple and its iPhones.

The company has offered to pay as much as $400 to iPhone users if they will ditch their handsets and an additional top up of up to $200 if they will buy a Blackberry Passport priced at $599, reports CBC News.

The $200 top up applies to Canadian customers. In the US, the maximum top up that Blackberry can provide is $150, adds the report.

The Canadian tech company will be making the offer in time for the Christmas season, making it look more like a Holiday deal of sort, notes Mashable.

"Starting December 1, Blackberry will pay customers up to $400 to trade in their iPhones including the 4S, 5, 5C, 5S, and 6 models. On top of that, Blackberry will give an additional $150 (to purchase Passport)," the report said.

Blackberry's promotion will run from December 1, 2014 to February 13, 2015, cites CBC News.

Less than 10 years ago, Blackberry was holding sway as the top smartphone maker in the US. It had its high in 2009 when it captured 47% of the US smartphone market, according to the International Data Corporation. Today, it only accounts for less than 1% of both the US and Canadian markets, details Mashable in an October 19 article.

"Although critics see Blackberry as a washed-up brand on its way to becoming the next Palm, the company has successfully completed the first stage of its turnaround plan. Proponents say that if Blackberry continues to focus on hardcore business customers (the way it did for Blackberry Z10 last year), it may defy the odds and pull off a comeback," cites the October Mashable article.

Its latest marketing ploy versus Apple and the iPhones however is certainly not hardcore business so it's not clear whether the plan would click or backfire.

For customers who are willing trade in their iPhones and bite Blackberry's offer, they can simply purchase a Passport from ShopBlackberry.com or Amazon.com.

Once the proof or purchase for Passport and the trade-in iPhone have been received by the company, customers will get the money within six weeks through mail via a prepaid Visa gift card, states CBC News.

The first Mashable report recalls that Blackberry launched the Passport in September featuring a square display and a strange width of 3.6 inches.

Blackberry CEO John Chen announced on November 24 that its Passport smartphone is now available in white and red colors, in addition to black that was launched in September, reports CBC News.