The mobile iPhone has become the traveler's communications device of choice, and that now includes many vacationers as well as business people, especially when road warriors travel on personal time. The challenge, however, is being prepared for potential operating glitches that can occur, as well as the worse experience of breaking the iPhone's glass display screen by dropping it on a hard surface or accidentally stepping on it.

Service information on Apple's web site and discussions in travel forums indicate that a one-year warranty is included with the purchase of an iPhone, but the limited warranty includes exceptions. It also costs $199 per year once the first free year is up. Repairs covered under the warranty are for malfunctions of operating features on the device. But repairs needed due to accidents such as dropping the phone and cracking its display, or smacking the phone unintentionally into a hard surface, are not covered. Plus the length of time indicated by Apple for its service to complete a repair is three-to-five business days, which could be a large chunk of travel time during a vacation or business trip.

One repair solution is to transfer the SIM memory card from your own phone to a rental iPhone or lesser, but compatible, phone if Apple does the repair. Apple recommends this card transfer because stored memory information is normally lost during a major iPhone repair. There are also do-it-yourself repair kits, readily available on Amazon.com, if the repair need is to replace the cracked glass display of an otherwise functional iPhone.  However, Apple warns that an existing warranty is nullified if an iPhone repair is attempted by the customer or a non-Apple repair service. There are numerous independent iPhone repair services to be found online for owners whose repair needs are immediate and who either don't have, or don't care about, their limited service warranty.