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Am I allowed to Train and repair apple products from home as a new business?

I love apple products and I was thinking of a computer repair business. However, I would like to mainly concentrate on Apple Hardware.


On the ACMT page it states something like the ACMT does not authorise you to repair apple products. I read about the service centre but you need a minimum of 50 machines or something.


I've seen small businesses on the internet that do apple repairs so how do they manage it?


What do I have to do to be able to repair apple products and abide by all rules?


I am in the UK.


Many thanks,

~Luke

Posted on Feb 9, 2014 1:45 AM

11 replies

Feb 9, 2014 10:06 AM in response to Community User

Luke,


Short answer: Yes, maybe.


Court cases on this subject go back a hundred years. A man by the name of George Eastman invented roll film but the camera had to be loaded into the camera in a dark room. His philosophy was that he could give the camera away but you had to buy the film and processing from him. The courts did not allow him to restrain trade in that manner. (BTW, you will not find that on Kodak's history site. See US vs. Eastman Kodak, 1915)


Bill Gates had a similar idea. 'Give' away his OS for $20 a copy as long as the manufacturer of the computer hardware preinstalled his OS on every box that left the factory. He soon had most of the world hooked. I remember shopping for computers in 1984 and hearing the plug for MS-DOS.


If you make a service agreement with Apple, you are bound by their rules. But, once someone buys an Apple device, they own the device, not Apple. Courts have limited how many millions and billions of Dollars George and Bill could make with their attempted monopolies.


While the US court cases will not control the outcome of a British court ruling, the information is instructive. Also, read the cases where Steve Jobs wanted to exclude Microsoft from making cheap imitations of his OS with Windows, even after Steve lifted the ideas from Xerox.


There are plenty of self righteous attorneys out there willing to work for self righteous inventors to protect monopolies. Then you have open source and the San Francisco Home Brew Club.


Your question is a little too deep for this forum so read up on your own or hire an attorney who has already done the reading. There is plenty of reading for everyone!

Feb 10, 2014 9:37 AM in response to Community User

The minimum of 50 machines is for companies who have a number of Macs and wish to set up as self-servicing accounts. That does not apply to someone wanting to start a business as an Apple service provider who would provide service and support to others.


Expanding on what AMM said, you can set up a business to repair whatever you wish. If you want to buy parts from Apple and get reimbursed from them for warranty service, however, then you would need to become an authorized service center, and Apple is not at this time taking applications:


http://salesresources.apple.com/cp/channel/channel_update.html


and would not be likely in any case set up a single person as a service provider. Otherwise, you are free to provide whatever service you like, but you will get not support from Apple to do so, will not be able to buy parts from them, and cannot make claims that you are in any way authorized by Apple to provide service for their products.


Regards.

Sep 25, 2015 9:27 AM in response to Ziatron

Howdy Ziatron


You (and all others after) have fallen victim to the " Z O M B I E thread " syndrome...


  1. SPAM post removed unceremoniously
  2. Using ASC 'list' shows recent activity
  3. you navigate tot he thread
  4. off you go on a wild goose chase


User uploaded file

User uploaded file

BTW, my 'earliest' understanding of this long running story was that XEROX PARC guys said "Sure, take it... we're not gonna use it." (or somesuch) = no payment OR theft

Am I allowed to Train and repair apple products from home as a new business?

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