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Battery Recalls A Blow to Sony's Recovery
Yasser writes to mention the fallout from yet another Sony battery recall. Sony's stock hit a one-month low today on the news that they'd be pulling over a million batteries off the market. The recall is expected to have little impact financially, but has prompted the Japanese government into ordering Sony to look into the battery problem. From that article: "The ministry instructed the two companies to investigate the safety of Dell models Latitude, Inspiron and Precision and report on their findings by the end of August, the ministry said. Earlier this month, problems with battery cells supplied by Sony forced Dell to recall an unprecedented 4.1 million laptop batteries in the United States. "
Well, what has Sony done right?
Overhyped a difficult and expensive PS3
Overpriced a lower quality UMD
Restricted the PSP to UMD and flash sticks
Released a rootkit on "CD"
Manufactured defective LiIon batteries
Released stupidly restricted "MP3" players that didn't play MP3s until 2005
GPL Deconstructed
Not being a Sony apologist here, but really, the batteries are junk?
The Apple recall involved 2 minor injuries in 9 complaints out of 1.8 million batteries. Anyone care to shine a light on any other industry and look for a product this reliable? Toasters, anyone? According to the US Consumer Product Safety website, one toaster model alone resulted in 1066 fires in a product that sold 234,000 units. The batteries in the Apple recall have been in laptops since 2003 - three years with 2 injuries and 9 complaints.