{"id":27313,"date":"2019-11-20T15:24:02","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T20:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=27313"},"modified":"2019-11-26T13:59:12","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T18:59:12","slug":"are-apple-repairs-profitable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/20\/are-apple-repairs-profitable\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Apple Repairs Profitable?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew Gault<\/a> (via Jason Koebler<\/a>, MacRumors<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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Tuesday, Kyle Andeer, Apple’s Vice President of Corporate Law, answered those questions<\/a>. In its testimony, Apple repeatedly denied accusations it was making it hard for people to repair their own phones and protecting a virtual repair monopoly. But its answers often didn’t align with reality.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Safety obviously isn’t Apple’s primary concern. If it were, it’d provide easy access to training and manuals it claims would prevent injury.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Apple also seemed incapable of answering basic questions about the repair market it insists it must tightly control. When the Congressional committee asked Apple how many technicians it had, it claimed there were tens of thousands. When the Committee asked how much revenue Apple generated from repairs, Apple claimed that “For each year since 2009, the costs of providing repair services has exceeded the revenue generated by repairs.”<\/p>\n

The idea that Apple is losing money on repair is wild, and a curse of its own making. The answer by Apple seems vague on purpose. Throughout the years, Apple has had to offer many “service programs” for defective products. Most notably, Apple has had to replace a large number of MacBook and MacBook Pro devices for free because it designed an unrepairable keyboard that breaks easily and with normal use. Rather than replacing a few keys on those devices, Apple has to replace half of the computer. If Apple is including warranty repairs and service program repairs in addition to standard retail repairs, well, then, it is quite simply misleading the public and Congress.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I wonder if AppleCare plans are counted in the revenue. I actually do think it’s possible that repairs are not profitable. But there’s also room for a lot of creative accounting, e.g. for the portions of retail stores dedicated to repair.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n