Key Points
S. Surera Ward has been running Girls Fix It, a tech repair service near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for around four years..
But as new laws are introduced both in the US and Europe to give consumers more power to repair their devices, how might this change the nature of the technology industry?.
These require manufacturers to make the appropriate tools, parts and software available to consumers for seven years after production so they can be used to repair devices..
"This is a complicated problem that is not going to be solved through any one rule, or any one court case, or through any one piece of legislation," he says.. Such consumer-level actions, coupled with top-down regulatory changes, will hopefully change the way tech products are made, sold and used encouraging more repair, rather than replacement...
"If I have a product that is defective, then I could go to a local repair shop ideally within five minutes' distance give it in there, have a nice coffee, and have my product back one hour later," he says.. Such a speedy turnaround, he hopes, would be possible through 3D-printed products, created on demand, from centralised databases of spare parts provided by manufacturers reducing costs and friction to get items repaired..
