What do you get when you cross a cracked iPhone 3GS screen with a bright 10-year-old boy? Answer: you get iPhone repair at a huge discount.
Enter ‘Brett’ (pictured above), nephew of CNET Executive Editor David Carnoy and son of the founder of iPhone and iPad game house MobileAge. Naturally, Brett is into gadgets, and is fascinated by technology and gadgetry, as most of us often are.
In a recent project, Brett was given his fathers’ iPhone 3GS to work on. The device had a cracked screen (just the screen, NOT the LCD) that needed to be replaced. If you’ve ever encountered this problem before, you’ll know that Apple will charge you $200 (and up) to replace the screen… quite a hefty charge for something that you COULD do yourself, providing you had the right tools, the patience, and the ingenuity of a 10-year-old kid.
After having bought a ‘kit’ via eBay, Brett’s dad handed him the materials and instructions he’d need, and let him run with it. Cost of materials including shipping and handling? $21.95. The result? Brett completed the repair in around 40 minutes, saving his dad a cool $178.05. Awesome.
Charging hefty amounts for semi-straightforward repairs is something Apple has made somewhat a habit of. Now that I know a $200 repair can be done by a 10-year-old kid in 40 minutes… I’m going to be a little more skeptical next time I need to bring anything over to Apple.
‘You want how much? Really? Hold on a second, let me give David Carnoy a call to see if his nephew is available. His prices are much more reasonable, often times he charges for parts and materials only.’
*tip of the cap* and a big *high five* to Brett. Well done, son… Well done.
[Via: CNET]