Dragged, kicking & screamingArticle from Seekin Alpha: Wall Street Breakfast - www.seekingalpha.com
Right to repair
For anyone who has ever owned an iPhone and needed it repaired, their options have been to either go to an Apple Store, or to a repair shop which Apple (AAPL) has given access to the specific parts and specialized tools necessary to complete any gadget fixes. That's all about to change, with a new Self Service Repair program that will launch in early 2022.
Snapshot: The program will initially provide individual consumers with access to "genuine Apple parts and tools" for the mobile-phone displays, batteries and cameras in the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups. Apple will follow that up with parts, supplies and manuals for Mac computers using the company's M1 processor. The program will be offered first in the United States, and to other countries over the next year.
Giving consumers the ability to do their own product repairs is a major change of policy for Apple. In addition to being highly secretive about its product pipeline, the company has often gone out of its way to make it as difficult as possible for people to make product repairs in their own home. Few examples of that have been more visible than Apple's use of a "pentalobe" screw that Apple has used on iPhones and Macs since 2009, and for which a screwdriver or replacement screw is close to impossible to find at any hardware store.