In an announcement made on Wednesday, Canadian device maker BlackBerry said that it will not renew US carrier T-Mobile's license to sell BlackBerry devices after the present contract expires on April 25.

BlackBerry's announcement that it will not do business with T-Mobile after the expiry of its contract on April 25 is essentially a result of the strained relations between the two companies. BlackBerry had felt insulted by T-Mobile's February decision to send a promotional marketing message to its device owners, encouraging them to switch to the iPhone 5S.

T-Mobile's 'Swap your phone' message to customers underscored an open offer for Blackberry users to trade in their handsets and get an iPhone 5S for no down payment. The move obviously did not go down well with the "outraged" BlackBerry executives, who felt that the backhanded promotion by T-Mobile was an "anti-BlackBerry campaign."

About BlackBerry's decision to sever business ties with T-Mobile, BlackBerry CEO and Executive Chairman John Chen said that BlackBerry and T-Mobile have had "a positive relationship" for several years; and added alongside: "Regretfully, at this time, our strategies are not complementary and we must act in the best interest of our BlackBerry customers."

Chen also said that BlackBerry was hopeful of working with T-Mobile again in the future "when our business strategies are aligned."