Outsourcing to a new extreme - the customer

Apple Computer is well-known for its ability to embrace innovation and sell it to the masses. Wired magazine has an article that discusses Apple's latest idea - self-service warranty repair. After talking to a support specialist to diagnose the problem, replacement parts are shipped to the customer. Apple has designed its new iMac G5 with a simple, modular interior to facilitate customer repairs. Industry experts cite customers' increased technological sophistication as well as their desire to minimize time without their computer as a major driver of this trend. (Cost savings to the company are apparently a secondary benefit). Competitors are also experimenting with this model:

The entire PC industry is increasingly moving to do-it-yourself repairs. Almost a third of the repairs to Hewlett-Packard's desktop computers, for example, are performed by HP's customers. The company expects that number to climb to more than 65 percent in the next few years.

The trend means certain savings for manufacturers. "If you're shipping your computer back to fix a mouse, there's a big saving, of course," said HP's Kemp.

But PC companies insist they are making the move toward self-service because customers actually prefer to fix their machines themselves.

Kemp said HP's self-service program was instituted after the company's merger with Compaq in 1999, and has grown quickly. He said it was conceivable that in the future, 85 percent of desktop repairs would be performed by customers, "but there will always be resistance from some people."

As customers' comfort in repairing their computers grows and computer designs become more modular, perhaps the next frontier will be to outsource the assembly of new computers to the customer as well. "Dude, you just built a Dell."