Apple Partners with Best Buy on iPhone Repair
- Paul Thurrott
- Jun 19, 2019
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Apple announced today that it has partnered with Best Buy to offer repairs for the iPhone and other Apple products.
“At Apple, we’re dedicated to providing the best customer service in the world,” Apple vice president Tara Bunch said in a prepared statement. “If a customer ever needs to repair their products, we want them to feel confident those repairs are done safely and correctly. We’re always looking at how we can reliably expand our network of trained technicians and we’re excited to partner with every Best Buy store so it’s even easier for our customers to find an authorized repair location near them.”
The problem for Apple, of course, is that its retail store locations are used almost exclusively for iPhone repairs, so these destinations are now perceived as negative places for many of its customers. This change from the Apple Store’s earliest days, when it was a mecca for Apple fans, explains the firm’s recent strategy of changing the locations into town hall-style educational destinations. It also explains why Apple is trying to move repairs outside of the Store as much as possible.
Best Buy is a desirable partner because the retailer has so many locations, including many that are nowhere near Apple’s own stores. Best Buy has about 1000 retail locations in the U.S. alone, compared to around 500 worldwide for Apple. Apple notes, too, that Best Buy, which already hosts mini-Apple stores within their own stores, has almost 7,600 Apple-certified technicians on hand to make same-day repairs for iPhone and other Apple products.
“We love being there for our customers no matter what their Apple need is, from helping them choose the right device, to offering AppleCare protection and now helping fix their devices,” Best Buy president Trish Walker adds. “We’ve always enjoyed a great partnership with Apple and we’re thrilled that, together, we can better serve our customers.”
Conversation 19 comments
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BrianEricFord
<blockquote><em><a href="#436218">In reply to trparky:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>If they’re certified and the work is warrantied, what difference does it make? </p>
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BrianEricFord
<blockquote><em><a href="#436279">In reply to remc86007:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I went into a Best Buy recently and it felt like a time warp to the late 90s.</p>
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wocowboy
Premium Member<p>I have never seen my local Apple Store as a "negative place" because of having to have an Apple device I own repaired. The one time I had to have an iPhone repaired, after a drop into a full sink of water that was totally my fault that resulted in the thing not being able to be shut down, it just rebooted itself instead of shutting down, I was honest with the guy, telling him exactly what I had done, and after examining it in the back he just gave me a replacement refurb iPhone, mentioning that indeed the water sensor had gone off and that he appreciated my honesty in the matter. A good experience indeed. And another instance where I had to have a laptop repaired was good as well, I think because I did not yell and scream at the person I was talking to, as someone near me was. Totally embarrassing, that person was being a complete jackass to the Apple guy. I am just one person, not the "many" cited by Paul, but I have found that if you go into a repair visit with a good attitude and be honest with the people there, you will have a good experience. The techs are people too, having good days and bad days, we are all human in that regard. </p>