North East pair's bright i-dea

Jan 14 2010 by Chris Knox, The Journal

TWO tech-savvy entrepreneurs are looking to tap into the massive popularity of the iPod and iPhone to help build up a multi-million pound repairs business in the North East.

Darrel Emsden and Harry Nicholson set up Irepair Ltd in November to take advantage of the huge increase in iPod sales over the Christmas period and have since been inundated with customers experiencing problems with the technology in older models.

The pair have moved into the North East Business and Innovation Centre in Sunderland after launching the business at Mr Emsden’s home near Hexham and are now looking to open up offices in Newcastle.

The business was set up after they spotting a gap in the market for repairs of out-of-warranty iPods, iPhones and other Apple equipment and, although they expected a busy start to the year, the duo did not anticipate the sheer volume of work they have seen.

The business is only one of a few around the country that specialises in iPod and iPhone repair, with the pair hoping to become accredited Apple providers over the coming months.

The pair have 15 years of experience repairing Apple equipment in the North East, which they believe gives them the edge in what they believe has already become a massive market in the UK.

They are now looking to bring in additional staff to cope with the workload and said that they were expanding their operations by repairing Blackberries for the surrounding business community.

As well as iPhones and iPods, the company also repairs the increasingly popular iMac, and Apple’s professional range of PowerMac G5, MacPro and MacBook Pro laptops.

Mr Nicholson said: “As we are mainly dealing with cracked displays and other external damage, we can only imagine that a great deal of people have had one-too-many over the festive season and perhaps dropped or damaged their iPhones and iPods!

“Of course, any increase in orders and demand for our services is to be welcomed and it is particularly good for us that this is happening whilst the business is in such an early stage.”

Customers can either drop their damaged hardware off at the firm’s Sunderland offices or post them off in secure packaging, with goods valued at up to £500 covered by insurance.

Harry Nicholson, director said: “We have big plans for 2010 which include moving to bigger premises at the BIC and taking on new staff members.

“We are now hoping that the current demand continues.”