TORONTO – Shares of BlackBerry (TSX:BB) dropped 4.5 per cent on Monday after retailer Home Depot confirmed that executives will receive Apple’s iPhone to replace their old BlackBerry models.
The Waterloo, Ont.-based company lost 75 cents per share to close at $15.76 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
A spokesman for Home Depot in the United States confirmed that nearly 10,000 executives, managers and other staff at its corporate offices will receive iPhones.
A representative for Home Depot Canada says the change will also apply to Canadian executives.
BlackBerry, which changed its name from Research In Motion, has been struggling to keep its smartphone user base in recent years against a growing number of competitors, which also include devices that use the Android operating system.
In January, the company debuted its new BlackBerry Z10 touch screen device, which was released onto the Canadian market last week. A keypad version of the device will arrive in April.
The U.S. release of the new BlackBerry phone is slated for sometime next month.
