Apple recalls 1.8 million batteries
Flaming apples aboundBy Charlie Demerjian: Thursday 24 August 2006, 19:56
LOOKS LIKE THE curse of Sony is at it again, this time Apple is falling victim. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commision, Apple is recalling 1.8 million batteries. It affects 1.1 million iBooks and Powerbooks sold between October 2003 and August 2006 in the US, and 700K outside it, and may "pose a fire hazard".
The full list of products affected, who to call, and what to do, read the CPSC link above, or call Apple at (800) 275-2273. If your notebook is on fire, put it out, then call Apple. If you switched over from a Dell because you ran out of marshmallows, or because you had some marshmallows left over after the last Dell caught fire, and wanted a PC to match it, your luck stinks, go buy an HP.
'Hindenbook' returns to burn Apple usersBy Andrew Orlowski
24th August 2006 21:23 GMT
Dell isn't the only manufacturer affected by Sony's exploding batteries. Apple has issued a recall of 1.8m batteries for PowerBooks and iBooks sold between October 2003 and this month.
It's the fourth time in two years that Apple has issued a recall, but this time it's by far the most serious.
"We want [users] to take the batteries out of the laptops immediately," the US Consumer Product Safety Commission told press today.
Apple's battery recall page is here. In August 2004, Apple recalled batteries in PowerBooks and iBooks sold from January that year up to the time of the recall. In May 2005, Apple issued a recall of batteries in PowerBooks and iBooks sold between October 2004 up to the time of the recall. The batteries had been manufactured by LG Chem.
And in late July, Apple recalled some Mac Book Pro notebook batteries sold between February and May, for reasons it didn't specify, although it stressed there was no safety issue.
"In the 1990s, when Apple had a similar notebook problem - PowerBooks caught fire and damaged the company's reputation at the time - the problematic Powerbook acquired a funny nickname inside the company: 'The Hindenbook'", writes Tim Onosko in a submission to Dave Farber's IP Mailing List.
The recall of Dell's Zippo batteries will already cost Sony between $200m and $300 million according to industry analysts, or exactly $430m, if you want to be really scientific, stick your finger in the air, and guess.
Dells On A Plane: Australian airline Quantas has already banned Dell laptops from being used with their batteries on board their flights
Japan orders Sony, Dell to probe battery fires Other manufacturers told to take note
By INQUIRER staff: Thursday 24 August 2006, 13:55
THE JAPANESE Ministry of Trade has told both Sony and Dell to investigate two incidents of fires from notebooks in the country.
According to Associated Press, both firms have to report by the end of this month or be fined. Other laptop manufacturers have also been told to check whether their batteries are safe.
We reported in June on a fire at a computer conference in Osaka which produced a spectacular conflagration. Dell recalled 4.1 million batteries at the beginning of last week, as we exclusively reported ahead of the pack. µ