Any electronics product from a major manufacturer will have provisions made for repairs.  Some repair&#x2F;refurbishing center will have bid for the repair contract, promising to repair FooPhones at $23&#x2F;unit or whatever.  They will get documentation, parts from the manufacturer, and train a bunch of people in FooPhone repair.  Then when Timmy drops his brand new FooPhone, the manufacturer can tell him that for just $79.99, he&#x27;ll get a factory refurbished one in 2-3 weeks.<p>Those supposed costs you talk about were already incurred.  It&#x27;s just a requirement that the manufacturer not just limit repairs to &quot;factory authorized&quot; repair centers.  There&#x27;s a very similar debate going on about repairability of automobiles.