BlackBerry Declines After Home Depot Announces IPhone Switch

(Updates with closing stock price in fourth paragraph.)

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- BlackBerry shares fell 4.6 percent in New York trading after Home Depot Inc. said it will stop issuing the Canadian company’s phones to its corporate employees and managers.

The home-improvement chain will swap out 10,000 BlackBerry models with Apple Inc.’s iPhones, said Stephen Holmes, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Home Depot. The change won’t affect the 60,000 mobile devices used by store employees, he said.

The move deals a setback to BlackBerry, formerly known as Research In Motion Ltd., which unveiled a new lineup last month in a comeback attempt. After years of losing ground to the iPhone and Android devices, the BlackBerry’s market share has slipped into the single digits.

Shares of the Waterloo, Ontario-based company fell to $15.73 at the close in New York. The stock had climbed 39 percent this year before today, fueled by optimism that the new BlackBerry 10 operating system will be a hit.

Home Depot’s switch to the iPhone was previously reported by the AppleInsider site.

--Editor: Nick Turner