iPhone 4 survives fall from skydiver’s pocket!

I found out about this today; but apparently last month the actual incident took place in Minnesota. I just needed to share this in case you haven’t heard about it!

Jarrod McKinney’s iPhone 4 — a notoriously fragile device — cracked when his 2-year-old knocked it off a bathroom shelf.

“I was like, ‘Man! That’s all it takes to crack the glass?’ ” he said.

So it’s easy to see why McKinney, a 37-year-old in Minnesota, would be “just absolutely shocked” when that same phone survived a fall from his pocket — while he was skydiving from 13,500 feet.

He found the gadget, its glass surfaces shattered, on top of a building about a half-mile away from where he landed with his parachute.

Joe Johnson, a skydiving instructor, said he and a few friends watched from the ground below the two-story building as McKinney raised the phone above his head in triumph after he located it using a GPS tracking app.

Just to be funny, Johnson decided to call the busted phone. He didn’t expect the call to go through. But it did. McKinney felt the phone vibrate and started laughing.

“They were all like, ‘It works! It works!'” he said of his friends watching his rooftop search from the bottom of the building.

That’s especially amazing since the iPhone 4 can suffer from cell reception issues. When the Apple smartphone debuted in 2010, a saga the tech media called “Antennagate” followed. Consumer watchdogs claimed a design flaw on the phone’s antenna caused it to drop calls unexpectedly. Apple gave out free phone cases to address the issue.

Johnson, the skydiving instructor, was so impressed with the whole ordeal that he plans to pick up one of the phones sometime soon.

“It goes to show you if I crash land and need an ambulance, they can still track me down with the GPS,” he said.

Some Android phones — Apple’s main competitors in the smartphone field — are perhaps better known for their durability. As CNN’s Mark Milian reports, Google, which makes the Android mobile operating system, launched several of its phones into space, tied to balloons.

Also, in case you were wondering if it’s weird for a skydiver to take his phone on a jump in the first place, apparently it’s not.

Well, we’ve seen phones that come into the shop looking worse than this if you can believe it. There’s no shortage of cracked glass out there, but this is a story that seems pretty extreme. I thought that I’d heard it all until today, thanks to Jarrad for sharing!

Have an iPhone 4 with a busted screen? Click here to get the repair started!

Take care, Ryan

Our “Got Repair” Benefit Is Reaching New Heights!

Hello M:R Nation –

We have hit a momentous number at Mission Repair and that number is 5,000. We have been able to save over 5,000 people some hard earned cash with our Got Repair program in a little over 1.5 years!  What is our “Got Repair program”? Its as simple as this: If you have your broken device repaired with Mission Repair, you will never pay full price for the same repair on the same device again!

You already know your iPhone or iPad is not all that durable.  You just saw it crack before your very eyes. So if you have it repaired, you know full and well that you have a chance of damaging it again.

Imagine walking into a repair center, having your iPod Touch screen repaired, dropping it on the way out and re-cracking the screen. This has actually happened and this is where the Got Repair program comes into play. That customer had to pay just a fraction of what they just paid to have it re-repaired. Of course we offered if up for free in this instance (we felt bad) but the customer declined and paid the Got Repair price.

 

With that explanation of the Got Repair program, look at this number one more time…5,000! There have been over 5,000 people that know, not only can you drop and crack your device once, but twice, if not three times! So why not cover yourself here? We are not talking insurance, we are talking a massive discount, just for being our customer. There is no deductible, no paper work and no extra charge. It comes automatically with your Mission Repair service!

Keep in mind, we are talking about physical damage here. You already have awesome warranty coverage with Mission Repair, but add on to that accidental damage. Its the very reason we are called the intelligent choice by many people. It just makes sense choosing Mission Repair for your repair needs. Got Repair is attached to each one of our services, so you can bet we have you covered on whatever you need repaired!

So, here’s to another 5,000 customers that we can help save time, money and sanity with!

Cheers, Troy

AppleCare+ Is it what you’re expecting it to be?

Hello all!

We had our October 4th release from Apple, and personally I think it was a little disappointing. No iPhone 5. Well, the iPhone 4S seems like it has some nifty improvements but its just not enough for me to get really excited. Remember my blog from September 21, 2011? I predicted a “limited” launch on the iPhone 5 in October and I was wrong. We got a “non” launch and it looks like we have some more time to wait for the soon-to-be-legendary iPhone 5.

However we did get AppleCare+ (AppleCare plus) that gives you 2 incidents of accidental damage when you purchase it! This is a breakthrough when you buy your iPhone- you can purchase the AppleCare+ plan and have peace of mind when you buy an iPhone from Apple. Or does it? Let’s take a look at their “included” accidental incident plan, and let’s focus on the screen, which is the most common expensive “accidental” repair. Let’s face it; AppleCare + covers accessories like your earbuds, but it also comes with a $49 replacement fee. . .so I think that I’d rather buy a replacement set of Apple earbuds on eBay for $14.99 outright rather than kill one of my 2 chances for any kind of REAL repair for $49. Let’s dig a little deeper-

1. You have to pay $99 up front to be included in the plan. This is a bit unnerving to have to spend an extra (almost) hundred dollars when you’re already making a purchase, but heck, it can come in handy, right? The issue is that if you DON’T drop or crack your screen you’re out that $99. There’s no turning back!

2. Now, let’s assume you DID buy the AppleCare+ plan for your iPhone. And then you dropped it. No biggie, you’re covered. Yup, you’re covered alright, for an additional $49. This service costs you another $49 on top of the $99. Sheesh!

3. Let’s say you pay the $99, plus the $49, and you drop it again. I mean, how many times can this happen to one person? Believe me unless you have the iPhone tethered to your wrist you know that small items can be dropped – and Apple includes 2 incidents of coverage for a reason. OK Apple will take care of you again for another $49. Bing, there ya go.

4. Ok, here’s where it gets fun. Let’s say you break it for the 3rd time. It’s getting expensive now because Apple is going to charge you $199 for the repair. Remember that they only cover 2 incidents of accidental damage – and you’re into these 3 repairs for $396. You read that right, $396. And if you should happen to break it again? Just keep on adding $199 to the price. Pretty soon you’ll have to take out a second mortgage.

Here at Mission Repair, we were built for this exact scenario. Let’s take a look at this matrix, and you can click on it to get a larger image:

1. We don’t charge you anything up front. So if you never break the screen, you never pay us a dime.

2. Let’s say you do break your iPhone 4 glass. It’s a common issue, and Mission Repair is here to help. As of today, October 6th, 2011 our repair price is $99 which includes parts and labor and our GOT REPAIR warranty benefits.

3. Here’s the beautiful part: If you break it again after we repair it, you AUTOMATICALLY have our GOT REPAIR benefits attached to the phone (which came with your repair for FREE) and we’ll repair it again under our GOT REPAIR program. This only costs you $45 and now you’re into Mission Repair for $144 total.

4. If you break it again (for the 3rd time) then you only pay $45 again. In fact, for Apple’s Accidental Incident Price of $396 I mentioned before, we only charge $189. And there’s the bread and butter of it.

So think it through – there are some benefits to having AppleCare on your device, but to merely go on the basis that Apple now includes accidental damage, my example above of using the iPhone 4 screen repair is pretty clear cut. Mission Repair rises out among the competition, and remains the Intelligent Choice.

Until next time, take care, Ryan

Deal of the Day – iPhone 4 screen repair only $99 – can this be right?

Hello all, I’m still typing away today. So many pieces of good news, I can’t get to all of them yet. This one I had to share immediately because this price is unheard of in the market!

$99 iPhone 4 screen repair!

Why is it so inexpensive? Well I’m going to get to the point. I secured a great deal on a large batch of iPhone 4 screens. It’s amazing what I can do when we buy in bulk. We were able to negotiate a significantly lower price on these screens for the time being so I’m going to pass the savings on to you.

Right now, just get your order placed asap. This is a $20 savings and will only last as long as I have these screens from this purchase in stock. Most likely the price will jump back up thereafter!

Have a great Monday afternoon.

Best, Ryan