Innovation intelligence brief
Innovation intelligence brief
Warranties for equipment like laptops
What became of it
Completed · High confidence · Last verified 2026-10-17
As catalogued
Online-sold extended warranties and accidental-damage protection plans for consumer electronics, with digital claim submission, positioned as a cheaper and simpler alternative to retailer warranties.
2026 reality
Operates as Allstate Protection Plans, an Allstate company; it sells protection plans for phones, computers, home electronics, appliances and furniture through major retailers (Walmart, Home Depot, Costco, Target, Amazon and others) and directly, and services claims under the SquareTrade name. The company reports more than 150 million customers.
Acquired by Allstate on 3 January 2017 for USD 1.4 billion in cash and run as part of Allstate's protection services; customer-facing branding moved to Allstate Protection Plans. The protection-plan model itself remains substantially intact.
one of the largest consumer product-protection platforms in the US, whose scale rests on retailer-embedded distribution backed by an incumbent carrier's balance sheet and brand.
Third taxonomy
REVIEW · Verified the 2016-11 agreement and 2017-01-03 closing (USD 1.4bn cash) via Allstate SEC filings and Carrier Management; no changes needed.
Documented evidence
Startseite
Digital Claim Submission
Homepage
Homepage
Homepage
Repair
Research interpretation
Classification paths, as catalogued, connect this example to the original insurance digitalization research models.