News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

August 30, 2006

hardware

Japan asks Apple to investigate after iBook battery catches fire

Posted Aug. 30, ’06, 12:23 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Hardware

iBook BatteryI guess Dell’s not the only company to have its laptops spontaneously combust. A report out of Japan says a Sony battery in an iBook G4 caught fire, inflicting minor burns on its user; the report was latter confirmed by an Apple Japan spokesperson. Just last week, Apple initiated the recall of 1.8 million Sony batteries. There was no official word on whether or not the battery that caught fire was one of the recalled units, though I presume that’s the case.

Japan has asked Apple Japan to investigate and present its findings and suggestions for dealing with this problem by September 5th, or else face a ¥300,000 fine—which, as many have pointed out, is a not very overwhelming fee of around $2,500.

All of this only underscores, to me, the importance of coming up with a new power solution. I’m convinced that the next major revolution in computing will be a change to the traditional battery. Whether that’s via fuel cells or some other method, I can’t say, but it can’t come too soon for me.

[Thanks, Dan]


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