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Ask HN: How do I get started in cell phone repair?

1 points by oz ↗ HN
I'm a sysadmin at a medium-sized company. Blackberries are VERY popular here; both company-owned and personal phones. There's always something wrong with them, and let's just say I smell an opportunity...

So how do I get started? Any recommended blogs, books or courses? Any obvious caveats and gotchas? Any war stories?

Thanks.

--EDIT-- I should have added that I'm from Jamaica. The carriers do sell Blackberry's, so company owned phones would be under warranty. However, many people acquire their personal pones from the grey market, or as a gift from someone overseas, so there's no warranty. And I do happen to know of quite a few people who make decent money in phone repair.

3 comments

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catlike
Serious question, as I've never had a phone repaired. I have a work paid for phone, if my phone were to stop working I would call Apple and either have a new one shipped to me or go and pick one up (probably go pick it up as I'd like to get it ASAP) when I previously had a blackberry I would have done the same (substituting Apple for Verizon). Can you (at any level of expertise) fix my phone faster that the carrier/provider can replace it?
J3L2404
Verizon fixes BB's for free and often while you wait (its usually the trackball) so it may be rough waters profit wise.
brk
I'm being quite serious, I'd hesitate to build much of a business around BlackBerry hardware right now.

I think for the most part the users have other options through their carriers for repairs, and/or will use a hardware failure as a reason to upgrade to a new device (newer BB, or other smartphone).

My guess is that you wouldn't make enough long-term to cover your initial investment in random tools and spare parts.