"No change" to iPod nano recall policy

By Stephen Withers
Friday, 10 July 2009 10:40

Opinion and Analysis

Has an old and rarely encountered iPod battery problem been resurrected to hamper the Korean launch of the iPhone 3GS?

Reports from Korea (eg, in The Korea Herald) that Apple has recalled the iPod nano appear to be misleading and may be an example of 'dirty pool'

According to The Korea Herald, "U.S. computer giant Apple succumbed to Seoul's pressure to recall its first-generation iPod Nano following a series of reports of alleged battery explosion of the popular MP3 players, the government said yesterday."

Not so, according to an Apple spokesperson.

"Since last August, Apple has offered to repair or replace any customer's first generation iPod nano if its battery overheats. We have received very few reports of such incidents (about 0.001 percent of first generation iPod nano units worldwide), which have been traced back to a single battery supplier," said the spokesperson.

There has been no change to this policy in Korea or anywhere else, and as always, any customer who is concerned about the battery in their first generation iPod nano should contact AppleCare."

So what might be the Korean government's motivation?

Perhaps these sentences from the same report provide a clue:

"Apple's abrupt turnaround came as Apple plans to launch its iPhone models for the first time in Korea" and "Apple ranks second in the Korean MP3 player market, trailing Samsung."

Hmm... Samsung. That would be the Korean company that's produced a string of supposed 'iPhone killers', most recently the Jet?

While there's no particular reason to trust Apple's version over that presented by The Korean Herald, there have been reports that Korean consumers have a nationalistic outlook and may be "easily spooked" by media-driven scares (eg, Asia:NZ Online).

So who do you believe?