Some of this stuff seems to get totally lost on me. I get the exposure of iFixit and see the necessity of it but I do not think that giveaways are the way to go. It is my opinion that iFixit, by remaining true to its mission and continuing to supply outstanding parts and service, will lead the pack. It should be up to us to provide our support to the mission by providing good answers and good guides. We need to link to iFixit as much as possible to show that we believe in iFixit as a company.
iFixit can become a market leader and trendsetter by focusing on upcoming trends. It is one thing to focus all of ones attention on Mac's etc. but as these become harder to repair, broad demand for parts will decrease. This will drive up the prices of repairs and parts. Most of the buyers will be the one-time-shopper and that is where the emphasis should be. Maybe iFixit could do a better job in increasing support to the DIY'er and not just the pro's.
Now would be a good time to divert a bit and start covering emerging markets like Drone repair, VR gear etc. All of that is new technology and not yet well covered. Somebody will have to start looking at those trends and get a handle on the future repair of these devices. iFixit could be a perfect place for that.
Personally I see the iDevice repair coming to an end within the next few years. My doomsday scenario is based upon the simple fact that boardlevel repair will seize to exist (generalized) once schematics will no longer be available on the black market. Then what? Yes, there will be a few that will survive due to their superb skills and understanding of that technology, but the "broad" market will disappear. It would once more spell the death of the "Mom-and-Pop store" in electronic repair, just like it has in the past for all those local Radio and TV repair shops.
At what time will end users stop drawing the financial line on getting their devices repaired and just continue to replace those? We all need to become better activists to delay this inevitable as long as possible.
Try to find some repairs for GoPro cameras, Drones, or VR gear and you all see what I am driving at. All of those repairs that are listed are pretty superficial and not anything that would help to resurrect any of those devices, yet they are all around us.
Just my 2 cents while I still try to come up with some decent discussion posts.....;-)
