Dan Warne29 September 2006, 5:14 AM
Sony may be finished in the battery business after announcing a global product recall today for lithium ion batteries it manufactured, following recalls by Dell, Apple, Toshiba, Panasonic, Lenovo and IBM.
Sony may be forced out of the battery manufacturing business after today announcing a global product recall for batteries it has manufactured, Dow Jones reports.
"Sony's brand is severely damaged," Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a market-research firm told Dow Jones. "I think it's going to be a question whether they can be in the battery business at all."
According to a statement issued by Sony, "Sony Corporation will initiate a global replacement program for certain battery packs that utilize Sony-manufactured lithium ion cells used by notebook computer manufacturers in order to address concern related to recent over-heating incidents," the company said in a statement.
"Sony always strives to deliver the highest level of satisfaction to its customers and all consumers. We believe that this program is in the best interest of both our customers and all consumers."
"As we have previously explained, on rare occasions, microscopic metal particles in the recalled battery cells may come into contact with other parts of the battery cell, leading to a possibility of short circuit within the cell."
"Typically, a battery pack will simply power off when a cell short circuit occurs. However, under certain rare conditions an internal short circuit may lead to cell overheating and potentially flames. The potential for this to occur can be affected by variations in the system configurations found in different notebook computers. Sony believes that this engineering analysis remains valid. "
Sony did not announce details of how consumers should return batteries, but it is likely to that it will be via the computer manufacturer that bought the battery from Sony.
Dell, Apple, Toshiba, Panasonic, Lenovo and IBM have already recalled Sony-made lithium-ion batteries sold with their computers.