Reports of
iPhones exploding,
starting fires and killing people in cold blood have been around since the inception of the handset. They've also been relatively sporadic, seemingly short on evidence, and Apple hasn't given complaints much credence or response. So when we heard a story from France the other day about a security guard's iPhone "exploding" and sending a shard of glass into his eye (though apparently not serious enough to warrant a hospital visit), it was a little hard to believe, but with a few other stories of cracking screens due to overheating cropping up in Europe over the past couple weeks, French authorities have taken an interest in the story. Anecdotally, a teen says his phone "imploded" in Belgium and gave him a headache, a woman's phone cracked without warning, and ten or so victims in France have come forward to complain of similar problems, picking up the interest of a French consumer watchdog group. Apple is naturally not new to the concept of overheating in its battery-powered devices -- in fact, it's just entered into its first full-on
iPod nano recall in Korea of the 1st-gen players after numerous reports of battery faultiness worldwide -- but with 26 million iPhones out and about, and the iPhone 3GS tending to run a bit hotter than its siblings, a systemic problem with one or all models of the handsets isn't something consumers or Apple would take lightly.
Herve Novelli, France's top trade official, met with Apple France's Michel Coulomb today to discuss the problem, and so far Apple is sticking to its guns: it claims that reported incidents are in the single digits, and that all cases it's investigated fully so far have turned out to be blamed on "external force" to the screen. Herve and Michel seem to have parted on friendly terms, promising to keep in touch over the issue, and the EU's alert system for dangerous consumer products (inexplicably dubbed RAPEX) is staying in the loop as well, asking the 27 member nations to keep tabs on the situation. Novelli says it's "too early to blame anyone," and we'd have to agree, but we hope Apple keeps up the (freshly) open communication about this issue going forward.
Read - French minister meets Apple exec over iPhone problems
Read - Apple denies 'exploding' iPhones
Read - Apple denies battery problem with exploding iPhones
Read - Belgian teenager latest victim of exploding iPhone phenomenon
posted August 28th 2009 12:40PM
lol
comment from french reader :
the latest exploding case is totally fake, i'm sure.
evidences :
• photo of the iphone : two shots on the screen. the device exploded twice ?
http://www.midilibre.com/articles/2009/08/24/Iphone-J-envoyais-un-SMS-quand-mon-iPhone-a-implose-894306.php5
• the guy says he received a glass particle in the eye and then he managed to take it off with tweezers. :-| ya ya, sure.
it has to be mentionned that exploding iphones have mainly been reported in the south of France where people easily tend to exaggerate.
there's a saying for that kind of case : "C'est la sardine qui a bouché le port de Marseille" ("one sardine has blocked the entry of Marseille's harbour")…
Is France hotter than Arizona? Cause I've never heard of iPhone's exploding here.
it has more to do with fault hardware then location but these to factors can effect each other
France is just the place where Apple fanboys are the most stupid, so they get all the crappy hardware (unsold and refurbished) and pay it double price compared to the USA.
(you know the old "$199 = 249 euros" apple theory)
For Sale: French army rifle. Brand new condition. Never fired. Dropped once. Throw in one Iphone landmine to close the deal!
time to tell consumers about this @ my job. hopefully sales will go dwn for this product.
Oh man, I am like sooo jealous. Here is yet another thing that the iPhione does that my Blackberry has never done - catch fire. C'mon RIM.
And Apple says its not their fault LOL!
http://www.pcworld.com/article/171065/apple_exploding_iphones_not_our_fault.html
Just...awesome.
Thanks to AT&T the exploding feature is not enabled in this country.
Great! Now the EU will be requiring that all other MP3 players be equally as explosive as iPhones or they can't be sold in Europe.
and by MP3 players I meant cellphones?
LOL. Love the graphic!
We must pre-tect ourselves!
Apple is the new american weapon, is WWII all over again.. lol
Heheh, soooo much for *damn expensive* American craps!
What next, exploding Space Shuttles in mid-air after regular maintenance by lazy azz American bums forgetting tools on the wings of these spacecrafts? Uh, wait...
So much for *expensive* *American* *craps*, again!
France is the best country ever.
Allll fakeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!
tight jeans, hairy legs, no shit.