Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry is wooing Apple customers with a cash offer for trade-ins of iPhones for its new square-screened, keyboard-equipped Passport. This marks the first time that BlackBerry has gone head-to-head with Apple since the Canadian firm launched a turnaround plan last year aimed at stemming massive losses. Named for its approximate size to the travel document, the phone was designed to win back key corporate users after BlackBerry was effectively knocked out of the highly competitive consumer smartphone market dominated by Apple and Samsung. In September, BlackBerry reported it narrowed its loss in the latest quarter, and expressed optimism that its major restructuring and new business-friendly devices would help fuel a turnaround.



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