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Sony scrambles to contain growing battery troubles(Turkish Daily News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Japan's Sony, scrambling to contain the fallout from widening defective battery problems, launched a global replacement program as computer makers Toshiba and Lenovo announced major recalls. Sony will offer to replace certain battery packs for notebook computers in response to concerns at recent overheating incidents, the company said. "This is a program to ease the worries of computer makers and consumers," said Sony spokesman Takashi Uehara in Tokyo. "This is not a compulsory recall," he said, adding it was not yet clear how many laptop computer batteries might be returned. Soon after the announcement, Japanese electronics giant Toshiba Corp. said it was recalling the dynabook, Satellite, Qosmio, TECRA and PORTEGE laptop ranges, a move expected to affect 830,000 computers worldwide. According to Japanese media reports, Fujitsu Ltd. and other manufacturers were also considering recalls in response to Sony's replacement program. Analysts said it was hard to quantify the potential magnitude and cost of the problem but believed it so far looked manageable for Sony, which has recently rebounded under a major restructuring plan. "The number of recalls is difficult to estimate now and there is the question of how many customers will replace batteries without any problems," said Tatsuya Mizuho, a director at the credit rating agency Fitch Ratings. On Thursday China's Lenovo, which took over IBM's ThinkPad personal computer unit last year, said about 526,000 lithium-ion batteries made by Sony were susceptible to overheating and would be replaced free of charge. The recall was announced with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission two weeks after a laptop overheated and caught fire as its owner was about to take a flight from Los Angeles International airport. Sony last month announced it would incur costs of up to $257 million for recalls of millions of its batteries by U.S. computer makers Apple and Dell. Sony had insisted that the problems would spread no further than Dell and Apple but earlier this month Japan's Toshiba also announced a recall of 340,000 laptop computers with batteries made by Sony, even before its latest recall. Sony said it would consult computer makers that use its batteries to see which companies decide to participate in the replacement program. The massive battery recall has hit Sony just as a painful restructuring drive had appeared to be paying off after a weak patch at the iconic Japanese company that created the Walkman portable music player. There is also concern about prospects for two of the group's pivotal new products -- the PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console and the Blu-ray high-definition DVD player. Sony was forced to delay the global launch of the PS3 by six months until this November. Earlier this month it pushed back the rollout in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia again, until March, because of technical problems with the Blu-ray player, which has been built into the PS3 Copyright 2006 Turkish Daily News. Source: Financial Times Information Limited - Middle East Intelligence Wire. |