A BIG HUGE WIRELESS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION WANTS TO RESTRICT YOUR RIGHT TO REPAIR - How The CTIA WISE ASP Could Destroy Your Business!
For many years the Tech Repair Industry (aka, Cell Phone Repair) has struggled with trying to find a way to police itself and discourage rogue players. Now a few BIG COMPANIES in the repair industry have partnered with CTIA (who represents the $475 billion wireless Empire) to create WISE Certification. WISE stands for Wireless Industry Service Excellence, which I don't really get as it applies to tech repair?! Maybe add an 'r' for repair and make it WISER?
OK, OK, much of the current Tech Repair Industry (TRI) is fixing cell phones -- more specifically replacing a glass screen on a phone that gets cracked -- which many of the CTIA Board members make, insure and run on their networks. So when I think Wireless Industry I think of; AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Sprint, Apple, Samsung, Asurion, American Tower Corporation, Intel, Qualcomm and the positions THEY support; Competition, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Net Neutrality, Privacy, Public Safety, Spectrum, Taxes and Fees and Right to Repair.
You would think, huh? (But I'm kidding, actually they don't). Here's the deal, not only does CTIA NOT SUPPORT YOUR RIGHT TO REPAIR but they actively fight it all across the country. Simply put they don't think YOU are smart enough to repair any tech that you own! Seriously, they say that all the time.
Don't believe me read the header on their website it lists all of their political "Positions" but not one of them is Right to Repair! Go ahead and search their website for "Repair", which I just did. 13 of the 20 results shown are letters or testimony in OPPOSITION to Right to Repair all across the country. Their lobbyists are paid lots of money to come to hearings whenever or wherever they are called to fight YOUR RIGHT TO REPAIR!
So armed with that information WHY is CTIA now in bed with a handful of the biggest repair companies in the country? It's simple.
Follow me here: Most of the CTIA membership is very much AGAINST repair (Apple, Samsung, AT&T, Verizon, etc.). Why? Because they all have a financial incentive for you to NOT repair your phone (new sales, re-up service, etc.). Plain and simple they hate repair! They always have and always will. Their "enemy" is repair so they want to limit the consumers available options for repair as best they can by making it harder to repair/limit access.
The biggest "enemy" of the largest repair companies is competition (Small business). It's a huge problem because ANYBODY can open a repair business and many have done just that by opening tens of thousands of repair shops all over the country. This is GREAT for consumers and a free market economy. Not so great for the big players in the repair industry who have been consolidating over the last three years but haven't seen the competition decrease much, or what many say is a "race to the bottom." New shops and more repair people rise up every day. The repair industry is currently ruled by small business - which is AWESOME!!!
For the last 5+ years the enemy of CTIA (Repair) has been banging on the door begging for access. Hoping/praying they could make a transaction with CTIA and the powerful companies that have the most control over the devices we fix. So a handful of the biggest repair companies were lured into the castle with the goal of helping themselves grow their business by gaining direct access to the kingdom (Not a problem for me, hey that's the American way, right?).
Here's where things got tricky for them (the devil is truly in the details). An independent Tech Repair Industry association would take input from EVERYONE in the business big and small. They would recognize that most of the best and brightest repair people own their own shop and/or kiosk. They would include the biggest advocate for tech repair, IFIXIT, in their planning and discussions. They would at least consult with The Repair Association to implement something/anything from the Right to Repair platform.
Instead what this brain-trust came up with, in their closed door meetings, was a system designed to benefit them and decrease competition in the marketplace. Sure it's a voluntary program (right now) that makes claims that it is, "helping consumers identify qualified providers that meet the highest standards for service quality and wireless device repair." Nice! Right? But, much like Apple's ASP, it simply makes providing fair, competitive repair services to consumers more difficult by only allowing few select companies the opportunity to participate. If CTIA members restrict who can repair then repair becomes more difficult and expensive which is a huge win for them (they can kill the big repair companies later as they establish more control over them).
It just seems like every time a great business opportunity opens up in this country somebody with more money and power comes along to partner with more powerful allies that have more money and power to then LOBBY government to side with them.
The Tech Repair Business is Huge and is providing an incredible opportunity to tens of thousands of small business people all over this great country of ours. It is lifting people up! That's not to mention the MILLIONS of customers who benefit from fast and affordable service from these hard working business people who support their communities every day.
No one who wants to succeed in tech repair should sit for a moment longer to accept this lame excuse for industry guidance from the very trade association that wants to restrict peoples ability to repair their own property.
The time for Right to Repair legislation has come! It seeks to level the playing field so that big huge corporations and industry associations can 't control our ability to own and operate a business. It allows the consumer the ability to let the market dictate how and when they get their property repaired, which is working pretty damn well right now with tons of locations to provide fast, affordable service in every part of the country from small towns to big cities!
Let me close this by saying that I remember talking to industry peers in the past about forming an organization to help guide the industry into the future but weak leadership has bowed to pressure and now repair is being hijacked by those who want to line their own pockets by throwing YOU to the curb. Don't let them do it.
OK, OK, much of the current Tech Repair Industry (TRI) is fixing cell phones -- more specifically replacing a glass screen on a phone that gets cracked -- which many of the CTIA Board members make, insure and run on their networks. So when I think Wireless Industry I think of; AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Sprint, Apple, Samsung, Asurion, American Tower Corporation, Intel, Qualcomm and the positions THEY support; Competition, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Net Neutrality, Privacy, Public Safety, Spectrum, Taxes and Fees and Right to Repair.
WAIT, WiGoMan! I didn't know that CTIA supports Right to Repair??!!
Don't believe me read the header on their website it lists all of their political "Positions" but not one of them is Right to Repair! Go ahead and search their website for "Repair", which I just did. 13 of the 20 results shown are letters or testimony in OPPOSITION to Right to Repair all across the country. Their lobbyists are paid lots of money to come to hearings whenever or wherever they are called to fight YOUR RIGHT TO REPAIR!
So armed with that information WHY is CTIA now in bed with a handful of the biggest repair companies in the country? It's simple.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend
Follow me here: Most of the CTIA membership is very much AGAINST repair (Apple, Samsung, AT&T, Verizon, etc.). Why? Because they all have a financial incentive for you to NOT repair your phone (new sales, re-up service, etc.). Plain and simple they hate repair! They always have and always will. Their "enemy" is repair so they want to limit the consumers available options for repair as best they can by making it harder to repair/limit access.
The biggest "enemy" of the largest repair companies is competition (Small business). It's a huge problem because ANYBODY can open a repair business and many have done just that by opening tens of thousands of repair shops all over the country. This is GREAT for consumers and a free market economy. Not so great for the big players in the repair industry who have been consolidating over the last three years but haven't seen the competition decrease much, or what many say is a "race to the bottom." New shops and more repair people rise up every day. The repair industry is currently ruled by small business - which is AWESOME!!!
For the last 5+ years the enemy of CTIA (Repair) has been banging on the door begging for access. Hoping/praying they could make a transaction with CTIA and the powerful companies that have the most control over the devices we fix. So a handful of the biggest repair companies were lured into the castle with the goal of helping themselves grow their business by gaining direct access to the kingdom (Not a problem for me, hey that's the American way, right?).
Instead what this brain-trust came up with, in their closed door meetings, was a system designed to benefit them and decrease competition in the marketplace. Sure it's a voluntary program (right now) that makes claims that it is, "helping consumers identify qualified providers that meet the highest standards for service quality and wireless device repair." Nice! Right? But, much like Apple's ASP, it simply makes providing fair, competitive repair services to consumers more difficult by only allowing few select companies the opportunity to participate. If CTIA members restrict who can repair then repair becomes more difficult and expensive which is a huge win for them (they can kill the big repair companies later as they establish more control over them).
It just seems like every time a great business opportunity opens up in this country somebody with more money and power comes along to partner with more powerful allies that have more money and power to then LOBBY government to side with them.
Not this time friends!
The Tech Repair Business is Huge and is providing an incredible opportunity to tens of thousands of small business people all over this great country of ours. It is lifting people up! That's not to mention the MILLIONS of customers who benefit from fast and affordable service from these hard working business people who support their communities every day.
No one who wants to succeed in tech repair should sit for a moment longer to accept this lame excuse for industry guidance from the very trade association that wants to restrict peoples ability to repair their own property.
The time for Right to Repair legislation has come! It seeks to level the playing field so that big huge corporations and industry associations can 't control our ability to own and operate a business. It allows the consumer the ability to let the market dictate how and when they get their property repaired, which is working pretty damn well right now with tons of locations to provide fast, affordable service in every part of the country from small towns to big cities!
Let me close this by saying that I remember talking to industry peers in the past about forming an organization to help guide the industry into the future but weak leadership has bowed to pressure and now repair is being hijacked by those who want to line their own pockets by throwing YOU to the curb. Don't let them do it.
JOIN ME AS WE FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO REPAIR!
UNITE or DIE!
Thanks for the read!
Please be sure to comment, follow me here on the WiGoMan blog
and on twitter @RobBobLink
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all of us you actually know what you're talking about! Bookmarked. Please also visit my website =). We could have a link exchange arrangement between us! web development berlin
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