Apple Inc. said Wednesday that it has expanded its authorized repair service network to include all of Best Buy's 1,000 stores around the country.
Nearly 7,600 of Best Buy's Geek Squad staff have been certified by Apple, which guarantees that all repairs on its products are done by trained technicians who will use Apple parts.
The arrangement brings additional visibility to Best Buy's technical support services, a key growth strategy, while also helping drive traffic to its stores.
The relationship between the two companies goes back more than a decade, when the Richfield-based retailer became the first third-party retailer to sell the Apple iPhone in September 2008. Best Buy now operates Apple "store-within-a-store" concepts in nearly all of its locations, in which it showcases Apple merchandise and assigns specially trained sales staff.
With Richfield-based Best Buy Co. Inc. in the mix, there are more than 1,800 Apple-authorized service providers in the United States in addition to its own retail stores. That's triple the number three years ago, according to Apple.
"We're always looking at how we can reliably expand our network of trained technicians and we're excited to partner with every Best Buy store," Tara Bunch, Apple's vice president of AppleCare, said in a statement
