So, your smartphone got wet and now it won’t work. What should you do? I spoke with David Naumann who started a company called DryBox. He says don’t try and fix it yourself, don’t try and turn the phone on and don’t stick it in a bowl of rice. While there is no 100% effective solution, DryBox has saved the majority of wet smartphones if you can get to one in the first day or so.
It happens to so many of us. Our phones work great until they get wet. You can get waterproof cases, but they are bulky. You can buy a water-resistant iPhone or Galaxy, but that is not waterproof either. Until the day comes when we have 100% waterproof smartphones, we will have this problem. So, what’s the solution?
Naumann says Drybox is like CPR for a wet phone! It’s a young company with a great idea to save your smartphone. If you can get to a DryBox within a day or two at the most, it will suck every drop of water out of the device in 30 minutes. Even then, all phones cannot be saved. However, DryBox does seem to work the majority of times. If not, they will refund your fee.
The sooner you can stick your smartphone in a DryBox, the better. The longer the water is inside the phone the harder it is to save it. Naumann says get it to a DryBox within the first day, maybe two for your best chances at success.
DryBox has dried thousands of wet phones
You may have paid little for your iPhone, Android or Galaxy, but that’s only because your carrier like AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Sprint or T-Mobile U.S. gave you a discount, which they will recover over the length of your contract. If you have to replace the phone, there is no discount. You pay full price. That means the phone you originally may have only paid $150 for, now costs you full price which is often hundreds of dollars more.
Of course, you can always buy a pre-owned smartphone at a wide variety of places online and retail. They are often in perfect condition and that will save you money compared to buying a new device. Something to consider if needed.
DryBox technology was invented in 2010. The company discovered a wet phone could often be saved if moisture was removed before a short or corrosion occurred. The key was to develop a quick, safe and effective method to remove moisture.
Pre-owned smartphone is less expensive solution
Naumann says, in 2011, the first DryBox was used in San Antonio, Texas. It dried hundreds of phones with more than a 50% success rate–higher when smartphones were dried within 24 hours of getting wet.
There is no guarantee every phone can be saved because of the variables involved, but Naumann says DryBox has a more than 70% success rate when phones are dried within 24 hours of liquid exposure. With the expense and hassle of replacing a wet phone, it’s definitely worth the attempt.
Since that time, Naumann says DryBox has dried thousands of wet phones and Dry Ventures, Inc. now produces two models for distribution. The desktop model is designed for retail locations where a store employee performs the drying service for customers, while the self-service kiosk is a stand-alone model designed for shopping malls and grocery stores.
If this works that well, I can see rapid growth potential for the company. They are testing with Walmart in several locations. Other ideas are grocery stores, gas stations and other big-box retail stores are also great.
One obvious sales channel is where they already sell smartphones. That means wireless stores and larger department stores that also sell them. After all, where would you turn if you had a problem? The place you purchased the phone, right? That’s a natural fit.
So, I can see this being of value in every marketplace across the USA. The only challenge is this is a new company and DryBox devices are only in a limited area for now. This is a solution for a problem we’ve been dealing with for quite a long time. So, maybe it’s time for them to develop a rapid, national rollout strategy. Just saying.
