National Women’s Month – Women in Tech!

Piggy’s Repairs - A focus on the Woman running a community based Service

National Women’s Month gave us a great opportunity to recognize a woman in the tech industry that’s made her own path to device repair, while providing her family and community with her shared technical experience.
We’d like you to meet Ashonda Sanoguet, owner and operator of Piggy’s Repairs, which is proudly located in Bronx New York.

Ashonda, can you give us a little information about how you started out?
I’ve been repairing devices for 6 years. It all started with being a sales associate at Verizon Wireless in 2016. I was so intrigued with repairing phones

But they weren’t repair phones in the stores at that time, correct? Right, repairs were above my pay grade, but I know having these skills in my back pocket would benefit me in the long run.

It sounds like you like to solve problems?  I’ve always enjoyed taking things apart and putting them back together.
It's not an easy thing to learn on your own, how did you get started with repairs? In 2017 I landed a job as a repair technician for Asurion, and I haven’t looked back.

That’s great, so how did you go from Asurion to starting Piggy’s Repair? It feels like yesterday when I was working for Asurion as a repair technician but was forced to leave the job I loved to work for the DMV in order to provide for my two boys. Soon that opportunity would come to an end due to my son having a hole in his kidney. He was later diagnosed with chronic asthma which required me to attend the hospital every single day after my 10-hour shift. It was then that I knew how important it was to run my own business.

Fast forward, Piggy’s Repairs would come alive in Mount Vernon of 2020 where we shared an office with another tech company ran by a woman - yea …. we’re breaking the cycle! Although I loved every minute of it, the world would literally show me it’s love in a totally different fashion. On Valentine’s Day of 2020 I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Wow, that's a game changer.  That didn’t stop me! Even after being told to stay on bed rest, I still managed to offer pick up and drop off services.

When did your storefront open? I pinched and saved every penny from those repairs, and on June 19th 2021 I was able to open a commercial location in the Bronx CANCER FREE!

Well congratulations on both the store and being cancer free!  So Piggy's Repairs, where did the name come from? It’s just a childhood nickname! The friends who gave me that name also encouraged me to start the business!

So how have you been growing your business? Is this word of mouth or have you been driving social campaigns for your business? A Little of both. The majority of our growth is from foot traffic and word of mouth. We are also seeing tremendous progress through our affiliations with the STEM program. We have students showing up to the shop outside of classes to receive the full tech experience.

We understand that you have been working within your community to provide opportunities. Can you tell us a little about your goals? My goals are to incorporate repair courses into STEM programs in my community.

What have you learned about putting together the repair courses in your community? Students are more excited about tech than I thought they would be. I’ve also learned that the more repair courses we put in our communities the better off our kids will be in the future.
What type of programs have you started? We’ve already partnered with both Children’s Aid Society (young adults in foster care) and Children of Promise (children with incarcerated parents).

So you’re giving these young adults an opportunity to share in your passion! Have you seen any promising prospects for your next repair shop? Absolutely! These kids are very ambitious and talented. Some I don’t have to tend to as much due to how quick they adapt. Students in the program are already inquiring about working for Piggy’s in the summer and in the near future.

What tips would you provide to other women that are looking to enter the repair business? YOU ARE NO DIFFERENT - JUST KEEP GOING!

We’d like to thank you for answering our questions and enlightening us about the work you are doing in your community! We wish you the best with your shop and the STEM program you’re working on with your community. Again, we appreciate you participating in this blog for National Women’s Month.

source https://www.etechparts.com/blog/national-womens-month-women-in-tech/

SUPPLY CHAIN ALERT!

SUPPLY CHAIN ALERT!

You may have read in the press that China has shut down the city of Hong Kong and neighboring Provinces due to spikes in COVID.  More than 66 million people have been ordered to shelter in place for the next week.  While some are working from home, factory and warehouse workers remain home.   This order will impact not only the product component product of parts for cell phone, tablet and accessories availability over the next month, but once opened, the influx of orders will cause a domino effect that will see a lag in raw materials and increase in shipping costs.

While the supply chain in the US hasn't seen a full interruption, as the closure continues and over the next few weeks, we will see increases in product manufacturing and inbound shipment costs.  We recommend that you plan your inventory needs to ensure that you have the proper amount of inventory.  We only foresee that parts costs will rise over the next few weeks, so we suggest that you plan accordingly.

eTech will make sure that we keep you up to date on the status of the supply chain issues.

source https://www.etechparts.com/blog/supply-chain-alert/

Get the latest from Apple’s Peek Performance Event Recap, learn about 2 new models!

In today’s Apple's Peek Performance Event they highlighted 2 new devices relevant to mobile device repair: Apple iPhone SE (2022) and Apple iPad Air 5 (2022). In this article we’re going to provide a recap of the features introduced for these new devices and how reparability is affected.

The Apple iPhone SE (2022) looks very similar to its predecessor the iPhone SE (2020) with the most notable upgrades relating to performance and durability. The new iPhone SE comes with an A15 Bionic CPU making it up to 1.8 times faster than the iPhone 8. This is the same chip used in the iPhone 13. The other notable features include better battery life (through optimizing performance), improved camera with HDR 4, 5G connectivity, and tougher glass -front and back. They claim to use the same glass present in the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro improving its durability over the 2020 SE. The physical appearance of the new SE is almost identical to that of the SE 2020. This likeness in appearance makes it very likely the new SE uses many of the same parts as its predecessor.

Tech Bob’s prediction on part compatibility is the screen, battery, and back glass are the same as the SE 2020. This device comes in 3 colors: Midnight, Starlight, and (Product) Red. It is available for pre-order on Friday 3/11 and in store on 3/18 starting at $429.

The Apple iPad Air 5 (2022) also looks very similar to the iPad Air 4. The most notable upgrades to this version include the use of the M1 chip (same used in iPad Pro models), 5G connectivity, and a USB-C port capable of 2 times faster transfer speeds than the Air 4. The display itself has the same shape as the Air 4 but Apple confirmed that the brightness is 500 Nits. Tech Bob’s prediction on part compatibility is that the screen will be different, but the battery will be the same. As we’ve noticed from many of the past iPad versions, display’s, batteries, and other varying small parts are re-used in new models. The Air 5 is available for pre-order Friday 3/11 and in-store 3/18 starting at $599 in 5 colors – Space Gray, Starlight, Pink, Purple, and Blue.

As there is still much unknown regarding the internals of these devices, we will do a complete teardown of the device as soon as we can get our hands on them and verify what can be interchanged with previous models. Keep an eye out for our livestream announcement where we will complete the teardown and answer any questions you may have. If there is anything you would like us to cover, please contact us at support.

source https://www.etechparts.com/blog/apple-peek-performance-event-recap/