Is this a line dance? Last week, Dell's recall of 4.1 billion Sony-manufactured laptop batteries must have sent every laptop manufacturer scurrying to their quality control department. I should have just gone ahead and bought the domain, "applebatteryrecall.com" right then, because here it is 10 days later and guess who's recalling Sony batteries now?
Yep, Apple. The cutest of all computer companies only has 1.8 million batteries as a part of its recall, from 12" iBook G4, 12" PowerBook G4 and 15" PowerBook G4 laptops sold between October 2003 and August 2006 in the U.S. Unfortunately for the headline writers, no Apple laptops actually caught fire, although two consumers did receive minor burns when their laptop overheated.
While no one likes a recall, it doesn't seem as if either Apple or Dell will feel it on the bottom line; and, in fact, Apple stock is up a tick on the news, 21 cents, to $67.52. Sony Corp (SNE), on the other hand, is down nearly 3% to $43.27.
[Photo courtesy Dat Nguyen]
Apple is issuing a worldwide recall of all 15" MacBook Pro batteries. This is a small PR and profit struggle for Apple. Notebooks are the flagship product for Apple right now, both in terms of brand appeal and sales. The cost of giving everyone who finds out about the recall a new battery eats into Apple's profit margins, and the black eye of admitting that they got past Apple quality control is a tough blow, as Apple prides itself on very good quality control.
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