Sony apologizes for massive battery blunder
Sony Corp. executives apologized Tuesday for inconvenience caused by a massive global recall in notebook batteries that is affecting almost every major notebook manufacturer, including Apple Computer.
According to the Associated Press, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said improvements in production, design and inspection have been made to prevent a recurrence of any notebook overheating problems.
"We would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the worries," Sony Corporate Executive Officer Yutaka Nakagawa reportedly said, bowing slightly with two other executives at a news conference at a Tokyo hotel.
"The executives were seated while they bowed and did not bow deeply standing as most Japanese executives generally do in public apologies for troubles at their companies," said the AP, "underlining how Sony has been reluctant to admit fault in the troubles with its laptop batteries."
Sony said last week said a total of 9.6 million lithium-ion batteries, manufactured between August 2003 through February this year, are being recalled worldwide amid reports of some computers overheating and bursting into flames.
In August, Apple announced that it was recalling about 1.8 million notebook batteries used in its previous generation iBook and PowerBook G4 notebooks due to the matter.
Sony maintained the problems were caused by microscopic metal particles that mistakenly got inside the battery, causing short-circuiting, the AP reported.
The company, whose shares have slid around 40 percent over the last five years, said none of the its top executives would resign over the incident.
According to the Associated Press, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said improvements in production, design and inspection have been made to prevent a recurrence of any notebook overheating problems.
"We would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the worries," Sony Corporate Executive Officer Yutaka Nakagawa reportedly said, bowing slightly with two other executives at a news conference at a Tokyo hotel.
"The executives were seated while they bowed and did not bow deeply standing as most Japanese executives generally do in public apologies for troubles at their companies," said the AP, "underlining how Sony has been reluctant to admit fault in the troubles with its laptop batteries."
Sony said last week said a total of 9.6 million lithium-ion batteries, manufactured between August 2003 through February this year, are being recalled worldwide amid reports of some computers overheating and bursting into flames.
In August, Apple announced that it was recalling about 1.8 million notebook batteries used in its previous generation iBook and PowerBook G4 notebooks due to the matter.
Sony maintained the problems were caused by microscopic metal particles that mistakenly got inside the battery, causing short-circuiting, the AP reported.
The company, whose shares have slid around 40 percent over the last five years, said none of the its top executives would resign over the incident.
Comments
"You call that a bow?" yelled American Janice Divan, whose home had burned down along with her MacBook. "You've got to bend at the waist a bit more. Pretend there's a flaming battery flying over your head! Duck!"
"Its not that we're not humble, but we at Sony are extremely mindful of energy waste." explained Nakagawa. "We bowed the requisite 12 degrees; any more would be waste of energy."
"We would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the worries," Sony Corporate Executive Officer Yutaka Nakagawa reportedly said, as his laptop burst into flames, bowing ever so slightly with two other executives at a news conference at a Tokyo hotel.
"You call that a bow?" yelled American Janice Divan, whose home had burned down along with her MacBook. "You've got to bend at the waist a bit more. Pretend there's a flaming battery flying over your head! Duck!"
"Its not that we're not humble, but we at Sony are extremely mindful of energy waste." explained Nakagawa. "We bowed the requisite 12 degrees; any more would be waste of energy."
Just so no one reads this and gets worried, the MacBooks use a different battery technology called Lithium Polymer and are not part of the problems associated with the Sony battery recalls. For those of you that pull your MacBook battery out and see that it says "Lithium Ion" on the back, this is because Lithium Polymer batteries are still a Lithium Ion technology, but the material used in the battery is not susceptible to the shorting problem caused by the metal particles found in the poorly quality controlled batteries which have been recalled.
CPSC recall notice.
It's not a matter of whether the Macbooks use different technology, but whether they were part of the same production batch with the same problems, which they aren't. Even if it was the same technology, there's no cause for concern. I'm still using my 4 year old 12" PB with its original LIon battery, which I know is safe because it's not included in the recall.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Joey, but didn't Apple recall over a million Powerbook battery packs using exactly the same, defective Sony cells exactly two months ago today?
CPSC recall notice.
It's not a matter of whether the Macbooks use different technology, but whether they were part of the same production batch with the same problems, which they aren't. Even if it was the same technology, there's no cause for concern. I'm still using my 4 year old 12" PB with its original LIon battery, which I know is safe because it's not included in the recall.
I didn't mean to imply all Lithium Ion batteries would have the problem. As someone made a comment on a MacBook burning up, I didn't want MacBook owners to think this was correct and think there was something wrong with their batteries. The MacBook batteries are not part of the recall. I"m not sure if by "Powerbook", you are referring to the MacBook Pros? The MacBook Pro battery recall was not a safety recall, it was a performance recall. I wasn't implying that anyone should be concerned... just that MacBook owners shouldn't take the earlier post as an indication of a problem with the MacBook batteries.
"We would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the worries," Sony Corporate Executive Officer Yutaka Nakagawa reportedly said, as his laptop burst into flames, bowing ever so slightly with two other executives at a news conference at a Tokyo hotel.
"You call that a bow?" yelled American Janice Divan, whose home had burned down along with her MacBook. "You've got to bend at the waist a bit more. Pretend there's a flaming battery flying over your head! Duck!"
"Its not that we're not humble, but we at Sony are extremely mindful of energy waste." explained Nakagawa. "We bowed the requisite 12 degrees; any more would be waste of energy."
(I am at the maximum number of images allowed).