Kyle at the great site iFixIt.com has just opened a new service dedicated to the collection and curation of user-generated content called Gear Teardown. The service, sort of like a how-to site for crazy people, allows folks to document each step in the process of tearing down, and hopefully putting back together, their gadgets.
For example, this teardown of the Moto Krave shows six steps, some more esoteric than others, and essentially allows anyone to figure out which chips are used in each phone.
Obviously this level of gadget porn isn’t for everyone, but it’s a fascinating study and will be much cooler as the site is fleshed out with more hardware and more teardowns. Until then, it’s a cool way to get folks excited about buying Torx drivers. A note from Kyle:
We’re a startup. We’re 100% bootstrapped with zero outside capital, we did over two million in revenue last year, we’ve been profitable since day one, and we’re going to change the world.
This teardown platform is going to be really disruptive. Hardware manufacturers don’t want people to see what’s inside their devices, but the dirty secret of the industry is that every hardware company does teardowns on everyone else’s gadgets– they just don’t tell anyone. The phone teardowns phonewreck.com has been publishing are really disrupting the industry and upsetting some of the traditional players like Portelligent and Semiconductor Insights.
Every time I do a teardown, I get calls from Wall Street investors wanting to know if company X’s part is in it. This information is worth a lot of money. By focusing on the cutting edge of what’s inside new products, we provide a valuable insight into the semiconductor industry.
Our plan for teardowns is twofold:
1) Crowdsource the documentation of technical details of new hardware. We’ll give industry insiders an anonymous place to share what they know. There is a HUGE pent-up demand for this. Investors want transparency that companies like Apple aren’t giving them, and engineers want a way to learn what’s inside a device without having to rip every last one apart. We already get tons of anonymous tips for our teardowns from engineers, investors, and enthusiasts.2) Educate consumers about what’s inside their hardware, motivate them to fix things when they break, and drive traffic to our DIY parts business. Our Mac and iPod parts business is very profitable, and we have plans to significantly expand it. Drawing the eyeballs of people with our teardowns really drives our sales.
The world needs to know what’s inside the electronics they buy. We’re going to lift the veil by allowing everyone to work together to share their knowledge and photos.
This is brilliant! :) I love the iFixIt site.
This is just the beginning. We’ve got a lot more in the pipeline.
Kyle,
I love the work you guys do, and have self-repaired two mac laptops with your guides. I am willing and able to support your store to do so, but recently it seems your products are just too expensive. I will happily pay more since you give me the guides (and I like how you supply them to everyone), but the mark up is to the point where it is prohibitive — sometime 20% higher. Are you looking to become slightly more competitive in the near future? Example is a seagate 500gb 7200rpm replacement drive for my macbookpro 17″. $157 you guys, newegg.com is $129, or 18% higher.
I’ll pay more, but pushing $30 (over with shipping) more is a lot to ask these days :-)
Thanks for the question. We try really hard to stay competitive, but Newegg’s volume is so much higher than ours that it’s almost impossible stay competitive on commodity items like hard drives. Newegg lowered the price on that item by another $10 just yesterday. If we sold that drive at newegg’s current price with free shipping, we’d lose $10 on every drive we sold. They’re a billion dollar company and they sell parts like that at razor-thin margins we just can’t match. Our price on this item is actually about the same as Other World Computing, who is known for good prices on Mac hardware.
We work very hard to provide people with everything they need to perform repairs and upgrades, from troubleshooting tips, step-by-step installation guides, trained Mac technicians providing tech support, and tools. Our goal is to be THE resource for everything you need to fix your Mac. We also sell about a thousand custom Mac, iPod, and iPhone parts that Newegg doesn’t sell.
I really appreciate the willingness to support our work. Our parts specialists are constantly searching for new sources, and we lower prices almost every day as our cost comes down.
That was a answer. Regardless of cost, I;m buying that hard drive from you. Thanks :-)
That was a STELLAR answer. Regardless of cost, I’m buying that hard drive from you. Thanks :-)
iFixIt also helped me save a MacBook from certain hot chocolate related doom: http://www.didntyouhear.com/2009/06/08/you-can-fix-a-wet-computer/
Definitely a great/useful service that’s surprisingly easy to use.