The second-hand iphone has become the billion dollar industry

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[]icracked uses part-time staff to make a big deal out of recycled second-hand iphones.

September 9, as consumers queued to buy the iphone 6 o'clock in front of Apple stores, representatives from Silicon Valley corporate icracked also came to the fun, but the latter's aim was to acquire the user's second-hand iphone. There are reports that idle second-hand iphones are worth $13.4 billion trillion.

Icracked has been established for 4 years, the main business is the maintenance of smartphones, second-hand mobile phone sales. Now, the company is sending so-called "itechs" people out of 120 Apple stores across the United States, downloading a software that will let consumers know that their second-hand iphone 5 can sell up to 200 dollars.

AJ Forsyth, co-founder and CEO of Icracked, said: "People underestimate the usefulness of second-hand handsets." And we will help consumers upgrade their smartphones, how to sell second-hand phones. "Forsyth plans to turn icracked into a one-stop shop for smartphone users when they first buy a mobile phone, providing them with all the key services associated with the device."

Icracked currently has less than 100 full-time employees, but there are more than 650 "itechs" people in the United States and 11 other countries. They not only repair the damaged screen of their phones, they buy old handsets, they also offer mobile insurance since August.

Like a taxi company Uber, these "itechs" personnel are not regular employees of the company's pay, but are paid to icracked after a deal to buy an old handset. Whether in the "tech hotbed" of San Francisco or Austin, or in the remote towns of Iowa State, Icracked's goal is to send "carpet" representatives across the United States and around the world so that any client can send a request to icracked mobile application, and its representatives will appear at their doorstep in a short time.

Earlier this year, it was reported that consumers were upgrading their phones, and the unused second-hand iphones were worth $13.4 billion trillion. Forsyth estimates that the figure will reach 15 billion dollars. Most second-hand phones are thrown into drawers. But in reality, consumers can easily turn them into cash.

Silicon Valley watchers say icracked is not a typical high-margin internet business. The purchase of the old iphone to be resold, during which the profit was only 10 U.S. dollars to 20 U.S. dollars. In addition, icracked needs to spend a lot of time and resources picking "itechs", training them, and then sharing the benefits with them in each transaction. At the same time, icracked also customized a lot of repair kits in China, they have expensive hardware business.

Forsyth also said that the mobile insurance business is very important. Their services are divided into 7 dollars and 25 of dollars, and consumers have access to icracked protection services without having to choose fixed mobile-phone providers such as Asurion or SquareTrade. According to Forsyth's estimate, the company's gross margin could reach 35% or 40%. But the company's mobile-insurance business is currently confined to California, and Forsyth says it will cover 45 to 50 states in 2 months ' time.

Forsyth, a 26-year-old student at California State Polytechnic University, became a mobile phone repair specialist. In the process of repairing mobile phones for friends and family members for free, he often around. To this end, he developed a software, and set up a network, 2012 by the famous American business incubator Y Combinator to help set up a company.

Now, Forsyth's company needs to repair and sell tens of thousands of handsets a month, earning up to $1.5 million this month. As long as you type "sell iphone" or "repair iphone" in Google (Weibo), the icracked Web site will appear. Forsyth says many people now seek their help through the Internet. And soon, consumers will be able to find icracked representatives outside their nearby Apple stores. Sail)