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iFixit

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iFixit
Company typePrivately held company
Founded2003; 21 years ago (2003)
HeadquartersSan Luis Obispo, California, U.S.
Key people
 
Users1,200,000[2]
Content license
Creative Commons BY-NC-SA[3]
Websiteifixit.com

iFixit (/aɪˈfɪksɪt/ eye-FIX-it[4]) is an American e-commerce and how-to website that sells repair parts and publishes free wiki-like online repair guides for consumer electronics and gadgets. The company also performs product tear-downs of consumer devices. It is a private company in San Luis Obispo, California founded in 2003, spurred by Kyle Wiens[5] not being able to locate an Apple iBook G3 repair manual[6] while the company's founders[7] were attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Business model

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An iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit

iFixit has released product tear-downs of new mobile and laptop devices which provide advertising for the company's parts and equipment sales.[8] These tear-downs have been reviewed by PC World,[9] The Mac Observer,[10] NetworkWorld,[11] and other publications.[12][13]

Co-founder Kyle Wiens[14] has said that he aims to reduce electronic waste by teaching people to repair their own gear,[15] and by offering tools, parts, and a forum to discuss repairs.[16] In 2011, he travelled through Africa with a documentary team to meet a community of electronics technicians who repair and rebuild the world's discarded electronics.[17]

iFixit provides a software as a service platform known as Dozuki to allow others to use iFixit's documentation framework to produce their own documentation. O'Reilly Media's Make and Craft magazines use Dozuki to feature community guides alongside instructions originally written by the staff for the print magazine.[18]

On April 3, 2014 iFixit announced a partnership with Fairphone.[19]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, iFixit and CALPIRG, the California arm of the Public Interest Research Group, worked with hospitals and medical research facilities to gather the largest known database of medical equipment manuals and repair guides to support the healthcare industry during the pandemic.[20]

In 2022, iFixit announced plans to open a new distribution center and office in Chattanooga, TN.[21]

Reception

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In September 2015, Apple removed the iFixit app from the App Store in reaction to the company's publication of a tear-down of a developer pre-release version of the Apple TV (4th generation) obtained under Apple's Developer Program violating a signed Non-Disclosure Agreement, and accordingly, their developer account was suspended.[11] In response, iFixit says it has worked on improving its mobile site for users to access its services through a mobile browser.[22]

In April 2019, it was revealed that some Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S devices contain a physical Easter egg reading "Hi iFixit! We See You!",[23] demonstrating that device manufacturers are aware of iFixit.

In March 2022, Samsung announced that they would be collaborating with iFixit to provide a self-repair program and parts store for a range of their electronic devices.[24] iFixit ended their collaboration with Samsung in May 2024, with co-founder Kyle Wiens saying "Samsung does not seem interested in enabling repair at scale."[25]

In April 2022, Google announced that they would be partnering with iFixit to provide replacement parts for their Pixel series of smartphones.[26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Wiens, Kyle. "Kyle Wiens". kylewiens.com.
  2. ^ "Leaderboard". Archived from the original on 2017-01-03. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  3. ^ "Content Licensing". Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  4. ^ "IFixit Channel Trailer!". YouTube. March 29, 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  5. ^ "Triangulation 373 Kyle Wiens, iFixit | TWiT.TV". TWiT.tv. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  6. ^ "Meet the $21 Million Company That Thinks a New iPhone Is a Total Waste of Money". inc.com. 5 April 2017. Archived from the original on 5 April 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  7. ^ Wiens, Kyle (14 June 2013). "Fix Things, Never Force It: Lessons From Grandpa". theatlantic.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  8. ^ "How iFixit Uses Teardowns As Marketing 3.0, by Leander Kahney, Cult of Mac Sep. 18, 2009, retrieved July 2, 2010". Archived from the original on September 24, 2009. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  9. ^ "17-inch MacBook Pro Gets Torn to Pieces". PCWorld. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  10. ^ "iFixit Shares MacBook Air Take Apart || The Mac Observer". www.macobserver.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  11. ^ a b Brown, Bob (30 September 2015). "Apple gives iFixit app the boot". Network World. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  12. ^ "iFixit in the Press". Archived from the original on 12 April 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  13. ^ "iFixit in the Press and Media". www.ifixit.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  14. ^ Wiens, Kyle (20 July 2012). "I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here's Why". Harvard Business Review. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  15. ^ Taub, Eric A (20 July 2010). "Cooling Your Laptop, or Your Lap?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 July 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  16. ^ Biersdorfer, J. D. (22 September 2010). "Ways to Remove a Broken Plug". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  17. ^ Wiens, Kyle (7 October 2011). "Why Fixers Will Save Our Planet". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  18. ^ Foresman, Chris (2011-08-18). "Dozuki will drag service manuals kicking, screaming into 21st century". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  19. ^ iFixit and Fairphone – Fixing The Cell Phone Problem Archived 2020-06-08 at the Wayback Machine, IFixit e-mail of April 3, 2014 (web version)
  20. ^ Goode, Lauren (May 19, 2020). "Right-to-Repair Groups Fire Shots at Medical Device Manufacturers". Wired. Archived from the original on May 20, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  21. ^ Local 3 News staff (2022-07-19). "iFixit to open East Coast hub in Chattanooga, bringing 200 jobs". Local3News.com. Retrieved 2024-05-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ Wiens, Kyle (2015-09-29). "iFixit App Pulled from Apple's App Store". iFixit. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  23. ^ Robertson, Adi (2019-04-12). "Oculus says 'tens of thousands' of its new controllers include secret messages". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  24. ^ Amadeo, Ron (2022-08-03). "Samsung and iFixit launch repair program for flagship phones and tablets". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  25. ^ Hollister, Sean (2024-05-23). "iFixit is breaking up with Samsung". The Verge. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  26. ^ Amadeo, Ron (2022-06-30). "iFixit and Google launch official Pixel parts store". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
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