WATERLOO, Ontario, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- In an effort to regain ground in a market it once dominated, Canadian smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry is offering $550 in rebates to customers who trade their iPhone in for a BlackBerry Passport.
The $550 is applied to the cost of the Passport, which sells for $499 without a wireless plan.
In September, on the heels of a 40 percent drop in quarterly sales, Blackberry CEO John Chen told analysts the company is optimistic about future profitability as demand for the Passport was high on Amazon.
Although BlackBerry has cut the retail price of the Passport $100 since its launch, and is now essentially offering it for free to iPhone users without a contract change, the moves are hardly desperation ploys -- the Passport is Amazon's top-selling non-Amazon-made unlocked smartphone.