What use is an iPhone with a broken screen?
Well, it’s functional, but it’s certainly not ideal.
Many people today go on living with their cracked iPhone screens, finding the time and money it takes to fix the problem inconvenient and time consuming.
Kyler Barkley, a budding entrepreneur at Towson University, decided to tackle this issue. Barkley has created an Uber-like service where you can get your cracked iPhone screen fixed in mere minutes.
Barkley began his entrepreneurial endeavors in 2014 while still in high school. He officially launched the business, Sell Phones, in 2015 after building the website his freshman year at Towson University.
While the service can perform many repairs on iPhones, the most common issue that Sell Phones runs into is a cracked screen.
“We can really do any repair on an iPhone, but our screen repairs only take us five to ten minutes,” said Kyler Barkley.
To use the service, customers simply go to the website and schedule an appointment. You choose the place, the time, the iPhone style and generation, at which point one of Sell Phones’ techs will come and meet you at your determined location to fix the problem. Sell Phones’ prices are one-third to half less than what the Apple store would normally charge. Barkley explained that for certain iPhone models, Sell Phone charges around $60 to fix a cracked screen versus the $90 charge that a normal storefront might demand.
“It’s just all about saving people money .” – Kyler Barkley
Barkley says the company’s aim is not just saving customers’ money, but making the pain of getting your phone fixed more convenient.
“It’s just all about saving people money so more and more people can enjoy the process of using our service, rather than having to go to the mall, giving them [the store] your phone, going to the food court, waiting,” he said.
Right now the service focuses on the TU campus community and provides a social element as well.
“This is going to be a fun process where our technicians socialize with you,” Barley said. “They’re already students on campus where you normally are anyway [so] you don’t have to [travel to get your phone fixed] …A lot of students don’t have cars, so they can’t make it up to the mall [anyway].”
Barkley currently employs three technicians and a manager but hopes to be able to hire more technicians soon. Barkley says he hopes to host several workshops on campus in the near future and then hire some of the more promising candidates to work for him at Sell Phones. It would give those interested in fixing phones a lucrative opportunity to practice their skills at a profit.
The entrepreneurship program at TU has encouraged Barkley to further expand his already exploding business. In addition to his website, he also plans to create an app by the spring semester. He is grateful for Jan Baum for her help and personal dedication to his success and he hopes to brings jobs and convenience to TU for students, teachers, and the entire community alike.
If you’re interested in their services or want more information on Sell Phones, you can visit their website: www.sellphones.squarespace.com