iFixit: a teardown of the guys behind the teardowns

You've undoubtedly seen iFixit's teardowns -- but you may not know anything about the men (and women?) who do the actual work. The company was started about 7 years ago, and currently employs 25 people. Its founders, Kyle Wiens and Luke Soules started after meeting at Cal Poly, and sell electronics parts to DIY-ers. They told the LA Times that iFixit's teardowns are actually "PR stunts" to attract potential customers. Still, iFixit's expertise and attention to detail has certainly grown over time, and we're really glad they have the heart to rip apart all the things we love, so that we don't have to.

[eDan Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:12PM]

Cool place to work.

[crak Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:13PM]

@eDan

If your a nerd.

[rmbrown09 Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:18PM]

@crak or like correct grammar.

[serge Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:19PM]

@crak more a geek or a techy...not a nerd.

[Slygathor Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:20PM]

@crak Wow, you OD Dumb Stupid.

[crak Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:23PM]

@Slygathor lol @ the hostility. It is called sarcasm:) Come on, if I go to this sight I must be a geek/nerd myself.

[crak Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:23PM]

@crak site*

[magallanes Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:27PM]

@serge

A geek is a nerd without a pocket protector.

[jampark99 Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:32PM]

@crak

Wow, you had two grammar mistakes in consecutive posts!

[who said what Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:53PM]

@jampark99

"but you may not know anything about the men (and women?) "

Call me sexist... but I don't think women are involved. They are too busy for the little screws... (the metal ones, anyway)

[iPodPhone Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:26PM]

@crak Admit it! If you are on Engadget, you are no less than a geek either.

[MoonWalkerCTE Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:12PM]

I remember something similar posted a long time back. Nice read though

[manifest3r Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:26PM]

CAL POLY FTW

[lucasz Posted Jun 24th 2010 6:47PM]

@manifest3r FTW+1

[d0mth0ma5 Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:16PM]

"iFixit: a teardown of the guys behind the teardowns" - They may not have thought this one through to the end...

[boxieblue Posted Jun 25th 2010 1:33AM]

@d0mth0ma5
LOL at that

[Sil Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:17PM]

They must be rich since they have money to spend on buying all the stuff they tear apart.

[DefPoet Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:18PM]

Bah. I was expecting a strip tease teardown. ;(

[HTCEV0 Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:19PM]

Cal Poly** and there are two of them. I'm assuming San Luis Obispo

[dardub Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:39PM]

@HTCEV0 We try to pretend that Pomona doesn't exist :D

[HTCEV0 Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:43PM]

@dardub I get offended when people say "oh you went to pomona"

[zangetsu2 Posted Jun 24th 2010 5:23PM]

@HTCEV0
+1

[rushmr2 Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:23PM]

@HTCEV0 Mustangs >> Broncos :P

[dardub Posted Jun 25th 2010 2:18PM]

@HTCEV0 Must suck to live under our shadow.

[statickeith Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:20PM]

Why do they have just 25 employees?

[Dafrety Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:29PM]

This is completely disappointing, Engadget. Why isn't this a gallery of their insides all nicely spread out on a white table?

[Laura June Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:30PM]

@Dafrety You know, that's a pretty good idea...

[corkis84 Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:34PM]

These guys do great work. They get great publicity for things i loved to do as a kid. Except i was never as good at putting it back together.

[Professor Hubert J Farnsworth Posted Jun 24th 2010 4:39PM]

The title is very misleading; I see no human organs; I'm very disappointed Laura. :'(

[wosully Posted Jun 24th 2010 5:30PM]

I have used their site, as have my friends. Great work!

[miki4242 Posted Jun 24th 2010 6:28PM]

Do the guys 'n gals at iFixit get memory deleting shots after some of their assignments? Does one of them discover he's been working on some emit-bndneig machine that will provide some Evil Company with way too much power?
Find out at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338337/
(Note: There's more to this movie regarding the current iStuff situation. Any nerd worth h{is,er} pocket protector will realize this on first viewing...)

[wol Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:23PM]

iFixit sells crappy iPhone digitizer as orginal Apple's. Theirs are made of simple plastic, are so called "improved" according to their wholesale partner and don't work properly. I have proof of this, pictures and all. They even refunded me when I noticed this - but they still continue to sell this. I would seriously warn everybody to buy at iFixit - unless you're sure what you're getting.

[AaronX Posted Jun 24th 2010 9:01PM]

Love the site, otherwise I'd have to do those myself. I wonder how they make money - do they strip devices for parts and sell them?