Apple Authorized Service Providers (previously called Apple Specialist Resellers) are independent companies which are certified by

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

, which carry out in-warranty or out-of-warranty repairs of Apple products as part of the company's

AppleCare AppleCare+ is Apple's brand name for extended warranty and technical support plans. It allows the customer unlimited incidents of accidental damage with a deductible (which, like the price of the plan, varies by device). AppleCare+ is available fo ...

program. Apple provides retailers and repairers with tools, training, and service manuals. All technicians working on these repairs must be Apple Certified Technicians. Examples of Apple Authorized Service Providers include

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

and Simply Mac.

History

The concept of the service originated with Richard Haddock, who was friends with Dr. Gil Amelio, then

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Apple, and recommended that they form a reseller channel designation. Dr. Amelio assigned Paddy Wong and Loretta Flores of Apple the task of designing the program, with input from a few resellers. Apple rolled out the Apple Specialist Program in December 1996. It continued under that name through 2016. Apple has since disbanded the Specialist Program and moved on to Premier Partners. This program involves meeting higher quality standards. Service providers who are unable to meet these standards are dropped to a Value-added resellers. In 2019, Apple introduced a similar program to the Apple Authorized Service Provider Program, the Independent Repair Provider Program, which allows for independent businesses to do out-of-warranty service. The program was criticized by

Motherboard A motherboard, also called a mainboard, a system board, a logic board, and informally a mobo (see #Nomenclature, "Nomenclature" section), is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It ho ...

as "invasive" for unannounced inspections by Apple and required telemetry being required to join the program.

References

Apple Inc. services Computer-related introductions in 1996 2016 disestablishments {{Apple-stub

History

See also

References