 | | 08-25-2006, 09:28 PM |
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Joined: Dec 2000
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| Apple to Recall 1.8m Laptop Batteries
Quote:
Apple to recall 1.8m laptop batteries
Friday Aug 25 11:00 AEST
By ninemsn staff and wires
Apple Computer Inc will recall 1.8 million lithium-ion notebook computer batteries worldwide after nine devices overheated, causing minor burns to two users, US Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
Seven hundred thousand of the affected notebooks were sold outside of the US though Apple declined to comment on how many Australian users would be affected by the recall.
The batteries were sold with Apple iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 computers from October 2003 through this month, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
"None of Apple's Intel-based notebooks are affected, only certain models of previous iBooks and PowerBooks. Our number one priority is to recall and replace of the affected batteries free of charge," Apple said in a statement.
Apple customers in Australia are advised to use the support website or call the helpline on (number edited out.)
The recall, the second-biggest in US history, comes in the wake of Dell recalling 4.1 million lithium-ion batteries just last week.
In both cases, the batteries had power cells made by Sony Corp. Apple, like Dell, said it did not expect any "material" financial impact on its business.
The move brings to nearly 6 million the number of notebook batteries recalled in the past 10 days and highlights the potential hazards of lithium-ion batteries, which also power a wide range of portable devices including music players and cellphones, analysts said.
"Sony clearly has a problem here," said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst at Creative Strategies in San Jose, California. "There's a problem with the batteries overheating."
Bajarin noted, however, that in Apple's case there were no reported notebook fires, while several of the recalled Dell computers had erupted in flames. Dell said it had reports of six batteries overheating, but no injuries were reported.
About 100 million notebook computers are sold annually worldwide, Bajarin said. They are the fastest growing segment of the personal computer market.
Sony on Thursday said in a separate statement that it did not anticipate further recalls of batteries using the potentially faulty cells. The recalls are expected to cost the Japanese electronics company many millions of dollars.
The reported overheating incidents were due to "contamination" in the Sony battery cells, said Apple's US spokesman Steve Dowling .
Roger Kay, president of market researcher Endpoint Technologies Associates, said the affected Sony battery cells may overheat or catch fire when tiny metal fragments, remnants of the manufacturing process, break loose and cause short-circuits. Dell also pointed to "contamination" in the Sony battery cells as the cause of its problems.
"The key message to consumers is these lithium-ion batteries can actually overheat and pose a fire hazard," said Scott Wolfson, spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington.
Dell of Round Rock, Texas, last week began a voluntary recall of 2.7 million batteries sold in the United States and 1.4 million sold overseas. The Dell-branded batteries were in computers sold from April 2004 through July 18 of this year.
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