Michael Oberdick owns two small gadget repair shops in northwestern Ohio. He and his technicians spend their days at iOutlet replacing busted screens, repairing battered motherboards, and generally making life easier for people who’ve done something stupid with their gadgets. He found this job far easier just five years ago, when he started repairing phones for friends. Back then, anyone with basic tools, a little patience, and an instruction manual could fix just about anything. But these days, performing all but the most basic repairs requires specialized tools and knowledge that companies like Apple and Samsung guard jealously. That makes it hard for people like Oberdick to earn a living, and for people like you to repair your phone when you drop it. And that is why Oberdick made the long trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, to spend three minutes urging state lawmakers to approve a right-to-repair bill. “If we do not continue fighting for the right to repair, we may not be here in a few years,” he told me. “It wasn’t a choice, in my opinion, to show up. It was a necessity.”
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Kyle Wiens is the co-founder and CEO of iFixit, an online repair community and parts retailer internationally renowned for its open source repair manuals and product teardowns.
Michael Oberdick owns two small gadget repair shops in northwestern Ohio. He and his technicians spend their days at iOutlet replacing busted screens, repairing battered motherboards, and generally making life easier for people who’ve done something stupid with their gadgets. He found this job far easier just five years ago, when he started repairing phones for friends. Back then, anyone with basic tools, a little patience, and an instruction manual could fix just about anything.
But these days, performing all but the most basic repairs requires specialized tools and knowledge that companies like Apple and Samsung guard jealously. That makes it hard for people like Oberdick to earn a living, and for people like you to repair your phone when you drop it. And that is why Oberdick made the long trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, to spend three minutes urging state lawmakers to approve a right-to-repair bill.
“If we do not continue fighting for the right to repair, we may not be here in a few years,” he told me. “It wasn’t a choice, in my opinion, to show up. It was a necessity.”
Kyle Wiens is the co-founder and CEO of iFixit, an online repair community and parts retailer internationally renowned for its open source repair manuals and product teardowns.