Apple admits to iPod nano smoking and sparks, will replace faulty devices
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted August 19th 2008 3:38PM
posted August 19th 2008 3:38PM
"Apple has determined that in very rare cases batteries in first generation iPod nanos sold between September 2005 and December 2006 can overheat causing failure and deformation of the iPod nano. Apple has received very few reports of such incidents (less than 0.001 percent of first generation iPod nano units), which have been traced back to a single battery supplier. There have been no reports of serious injuries or property damage, and no reports of incidents for any other iPod nano model.
Any first generation iPod nano customers who have experienced their battery overheating should contact AppleCare for a replacement. Any other customers who have concerns about their first generation iPod nano battery should also contact AppleCare."
Well, thanks guys... at least we didn't die.
I wonder if this is what caused the fire at Apple HQ???
Why the hell was that guy holding the nano up to his face? Sounds like that's his problem.
Umm, go to Google images and type in: brad pitt fight club
I passed my 2nd gen nano to my wife and wanted to see if it was part of the bad lot so I called Apple. On hold with Apple now...and have been 10 minutes. The call is now going on 25 minutes. 2.5 minutes with the first person, 10 waiting to talk to someone, 2.5 minutes of explaining and now holding for 10 minutes. I think they think I will just hang up and go away, but that's not going to happen. The person I last spoke to had no idea about the problem and said she would have to speak to her supervisor. So hear I sit on hold. Their hold music is like an elevator with a couple of "hip" songs sprinkled in for good(?) measure.
Its only first gen ipods, but yes Apple Care knows nothing about it.
get a life.
As you can see to the left, I am an Apple fan [read: not "fanboy"] but even I can see Apple has been effing up alot lately... Or should I say their failures are being more scrutinized than before. They need to get it together. I'm sure all of this is not good news to investors..
Just a followup, I was transferred to a cool guy named Ben who asked me some more detailed questions about the problem. I explained to him that it was getting a little warmer than I expected it to while charging. He wanted to know if it had deformed the case, had it smoked, sparked, etc. I asked if they had determined a serial range of affected units and he said they had not. He offered to replace it with another 1st gen nano, but I told him that unless the heat during charging got worse I would keep the one I had. That will keep me from having to explain to my wife why I sent off her nano and then her having to rebuild it when the replacement came back. Overall, it was a good experience with the tech once I got to someone that knew what they were talking about. He gave me his direct extensions in case I needed to call back and said he would leave the case open for a month.
Hmm perhaps I should have complained of overheating - I just said that I had "concerns". Either way, the handling of this seems a little shady.
silent,
do you have ben's extension number? i think i'd rather have it replaced than risking it overheating and catching fire later down the road...
thanks
I have a first gen iPod at home, so I called Apple Care to get it replaced (hey, why not... perhaps an upgrade?). After speaking with a supervisor, they told me that this information is "false" and that Apple has released no such statement...!!?
They said that they have been receiving a lot of calls today and that they're telling everyone the same thing: there's nothing wrong with first-gen nanos.
Anyone having any luck?!
Ok, so this ambiguity from AppleCare staff seems to be a problem for others too:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1671687&tstart=0
They seem to be pretending the problem doesn't exist, or else no-one was told. Is there a place on their website where we can find this statement? I want to call back and point them to their own statement to prove that there IS a problem!
Typed 2nd gen, meant 1st gen. Sorry for the typo. :)
silent,
do you have Ben's extension number? I think i'd rather get it replaced just in case cause i don't want to wait until it overheats and then replace it.
thanks
Haha, "AppleCare" WTF retard name are they going to think of next. It's like something a two year old just thought of.
Applecore
.001% is not a tiny problem, it is ASTRONOMICALLY SMALL. That is 1/10,000 units. A typical rate of failure for most consumer electronics is orders of magnitude higher. So, its significantly more likely that your iPod will break for any number of other reasons than running into this.
Sure, the 10 people who ran into this issue will all be on the internets ranting and raving about how critical this systemic flaw is, and how Apple should recall 9,999 perfectly fine units to catch the 1 that might have this failure, but as it always turns out, the issue is extremely rare and completely blown out of proportion.
This brings a whole new meaning to "fire in my pants"
i like the photo... brad can be the next joker... with a little makeup..
i called, and got a canned responce from sarah; "in reguards to media remarks we can not confirm or deny any such statements from apple inc."
Tyler Durden would never own an Ipod, Far too mainstream and he doesn't need the luxury.
I would be seriously pissed if my iPod Touch was to catch fire or something major go wrong. I use it everyday and its one of those gadgets that I have fallen in love with. Oh how Apple would hear a angry customer if something happen to mine!
I am Steve Job's arrogantly understated turtleneck.
Interesting to see how much irrational paranoia there is regarding what Apple has now said was a defect failure rate of 0.001%
A failure rate of 0.001% is not shabby.
0.001% = .00001, which is 1 in 100,000 units.
Now let's talk about irrational risk perception, to put this into perspective:
On average in the USA, there's ~92,000 kitchen fires per year. From a population of ~330 million, that means that its a 1 in ~3600 risk.
If an iPod nano only were to last for 1 year, that means that a kitchen fire is ~2.8x more likely than a nano fire.
However, since the nanos in question are all 2-3 years old, this means that over the ~2.5 year period in question, the risk of a household kitchen fire is ~7x more likely.
But then again, this is based on 'per capita', and most people don't live by themselves, but share their kitchen with another. If there's 2 people in the household, the odds of having a kitchen fire are ~14x more likely, and so on.
And of course, the kitchen isn't the only source of household fires. There's also another ~59,000/year caused by heating systems, and another ~38,000/year caused by electrical systems, etc: the kitchen is only ~30% of the household fires ,and in North America, it all adds up to over 1000 deaths/year ... around 3 deaths per day from fires in the home.
Factor in the rest of these and that 14x jumps to 47x higher risk.
So who's so risk-adverse that now that they understand that they're taking risks far higher than a cooking nano that they're now going to turn off their heat, turn off their computer and skip hot meals (including a bacon & eggs breakfast today) ...forever?
No, I didn't think you were going to either.
-hh
Umm...I don't carry around my kitchen/heating system/electrical system in my pocket next to the family jewels!
Ipod Celebrates 50 Year Anniversary - Proof!
If you havent sen this - you're missing a treat...Ok we know that back in 1958 the ipod wasn't top on you're grannies shopping list, but you have to admit this is a superb photoshop image.
http://www.skool-days.co.uk/2008/08/ipod-celebrates-50-year-anniversary.html
I called Apple Care this morning. They told me that they are aware of the issue and said my ipod is within the defect time range from Sept 2005 and end of 2006. They had my serial number and told me that mine was bought in Dec 2005. Then she asked me a bunch of question. Basically see if my is melting. My just run really hot. She said since it is not melting or have any visual damage, they will NOT replace them. This is crazy!! They knew something is wrong but if it is not broken, then they won't do anything about it?? So they will ONLY replace it IF your ipod burned down your house? Aren't they worry about lawsuit?? Sony and other laptop manufacture did the right thing to replace all the battery. Apple should do the same thing.