Pursuits

The Havana Genius Bar

Sometimes, Cuba’s black market provides better service for a broken iPhone than Apple

In the same way Cubans keep pre-embargo cars on the road, they've figured out how to repair smartphonesIllustration by Jon Vermilyea

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By Elien Blue Becque

September 13, 2012 at 7:42 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

BusinessWeek Cover Image (12_38, portrait_2x)

This article is part of the September 17, 2012 issue of businessweek.

When my iPhone slipped from the back of the tank and into the toilet, I snatched it out immediately. Though at first all seemed fine, it soon switched off and remained unresponsive.

“It’s toast,” was the verdict from Grant, an Apple store Genius. “We don’t deem it really, like, worth it to replace the inner components of the shell of a broken phone. I’ll throw that guy away and get you a brand new one.” Grant said I’d have to buy a new phone for $649 (or a refurbished one for $150). I was about to leave on a trip to Cuba, where my phone wasn’t going to work anyway. So I thanked him and left.