Broken iPods Start New Business
12.05.06 - 10:39am
Matt Bremner, a 26 year old from Toronto, Canada, has started a new business. Repairing and reselling broken iPods. “They are great machines, everyone who has one loves them,” said Bremner, an Apple fan who owns an iPod Nano and iPod Video. “But they’re pretty much made to be replaced every year. The average life of an iPod is maybe two years, but a lot of them start breaking after the (one-year) warranty expires.”
Broken iPods are up for grabs on eBay by the hundreds at any given time. Screens breaking can be protected by iPod cases but batteries also fade and damaged headphone jacks distort sound and failing hard drives. Bremner who started the Internet based mail-order company, iRepair.ca, now owns a storefront in downtown Toronto where he repairs hundreds of iPods every month. The work is ussually done in about ten minutes while walk-ins wait and same day for ones that are mailed in. Bremner uses parts from the manufactures as Apple doesn’t sell the parts and he gathers the motherboards from broken eBay units.
Analysts say the relative new industry is growing since iPods are easy to break and tough to repair. They say the business was open to whoever wanted it since Apple is reluctant to repair broken players.
iPods may never have been meant to last forever, with new and updated ones coming out with relative frequency, however sometimes they can break quickly especially if not protected. Also, hanging onto one that is slightly out of date yet still in working order, makes having it repaired a great deal.
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