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July 11, 2009
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| Just one day after the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) announced that Apple Korea had agreed to recall its first-generation iPod Nano MP3 players here, the electronics company issued a statement contradicting the announcement. Apple Korea yesterday wrote in an official statement sent to the press, “Since last August, Apple has offered to repair or replace any customer’s first-generation iPod Nano if its battery overheats. There has been no change to this policy in Korea or anywhere else.” A spokesman for Apple Korea, who wished to remain anonymous said, “We have not issued any formal statement to KATS saying we are going to recall the items.” On its Web page (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2099), Apple defends its position, stating, “Apple has received very few reports of such incidents (less than 0.001 percent) and the issue has been traced to a single battery supplier.” KATS, Korea’s industrial standards agency under the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, sent a formal request to Apple Korea in June recommending a recall for the products following five consumer complaints about batteries overheating and exploding. Park In-gyu, head of the consumer product safety division at KATS, said that the batteries for the 1G iPod Nano MP3 players sold in Korea are made by the Chinese company ATL. He added that these lithium ion batteries have had safety issues in the past. The Apple spokesman, however, said that “the problem iPod Nano products were sold between September 2005 and December 2006. These products are no longer being sold in any of Apple Korea’s stores.” He declined to comment on the battery supplier for the faulty iPods. By Cho Jae-eun [Jainnie@joongang.co.kr] |
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