126 MacDirectory
PROFILE
IPODJUICE.COM > KEEPS YOUR ITUNES GOING & GOING & GOING...
Did you know that your iPod has a battery
that can actually run out and probably
will? Did you know that if you send your
iPod to Apple for battery replacement the
one you get back may not be the one you
originally sent?
Ipodjuice offers
efficient, low-cost iPod and iPhone battery
replacement kits for users. The kits, which
sell for between $25 and $40, provide
users with all the tools and equipment
they will need to remove their old battery
and install the new one.
So how did iPodJuice.com come about?
MacDirectory spoke to Anthony
Magnabosco, the firm's owner.
"We started this (company) off specifically
for the iPods. The company was always
intended to be just for iPod batteries and
maybe a few accessories. We talked about
(expanding) at one point and decided that
we wanted to focus just on batteries and
just be the best at that."
It is a decision that no one regrets,
considering the company gets between 50
and 70 orders a day – more than enough
to keep their staff "busy all the time."
Best of all for his firm, Magnabosco does
not see his company's workload slowing
down any time soon. The iPod, it seems,
has an appeal that just keeps growing.
"The demographic (of iPod users) is all
across the board. We have parents
wanting to put batteries in their kid's
minis; we have teenagers, moms and
dads, grandparents calling to replace the
batteries in their personal iPods. It is about
50-50 male to female, and there is no age
limit. I have never seen a product that
cuts across all demographic lines like this."
Yet as varied as iPod users are, their needs
and expectations in relation to their iPods
are quite specific. For instance, when they
send their iPod in to have the battery
replaced, they want the same piece of
equipment back.
Along with selling battery replacement
kits, iPodJuice.com also offers a service
whereby they will replace iPod and iPhone
batteries in house. It costs a little more
than the do-it-yourself method, but
surprisingly cost is not the biggest
concern to customers who choose to use
this service.
Magnabosco explains, "Normally when
your iPod battery dies you have to send it
off to Apple and…what you get back is
probably a refurbished iPod, not your
original one that you got as a gift or spent
so much time picking out. The iPod we
get from a customer is the exact one that
we send back. People want to keep their
data; they do not want to lose it. They
also want to keep their original iPod."
The staff at ipodjuice.com is sensitive to
that, and makes sure that any iPod or
iPhone sent in for battery replacement is
returned to its rightful owner, as good as
new. "When we replace a battery you can't
even tell that the iPod has been opened,
our tool gets in there and does (the
battery replacement) safely and you can't
even tell that someone was in there."
Magnabosco says his company's biggest
challenge so far has been making people
aware of the fact that iPods have batteries
that can run out and will need to be
replaced. "Only about 30 percent of iPod
owners are even aware of the issue. Most
of them don't even realize that their
battery can fail or that if it does they
won't be able to fix it like you can with a
regular piece of equipment."
To that end, he is offering
MacDirectory
readers a coupon for $4 off shipping of a
battery kit. Just type in MD1 or MD2 when
ordering. Ipodjuice.com is the only
company that guarantees its iPod
batteries for 10 years, as well as providing
batteries that can be ordered as part of a
do-it-yourself kit or replaced in-house.
WORDS BY JONE DEVLIN
