San Francisco, Aug 30 (IANS): Apple has announced a new repair program, offering customers additional options for the most common out-of-warranty iPhone repairs.

The iPhone maker would provide more independent repair businesses - large or small - with the same genuine parts, tools, training, repair manuals and diagnostics as its Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs), the company said in a statement on Thursday.

The program is launching in the US with plans to expand to other countries.

"To better meet our customers' needs, we're making it easier for independent providers across the US to tap into the same resources as our Apple Authorized Service Provider network," said Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer.

"When a repair is needed, a customer should have confidence the repair is done right. We believe the safest and most reliable repair is one handled by a trained technician using genuine parts that have been properly engineered and rigorously tested," he added.

The new independent repair provider program complements Apple's continued investment in its growing global network of over 5,000 AASPs that lead the industry for customer satisfaction and help millions of people with both in- and out-of-warranty service for all Apple products

To qualify for the new program, businesses need to have an Apple-certified technician who can perform the repairs. Qualifying repair businesses will receive Apple-genuine parts, tools, training, repair manuals and diagnostics at the same cost as AASPs.