Sony apologizes for botched batteries, says won’t quit battery business despite massive recalls

“Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp. said on Tuesday it has no plan to withdraw from the battery business despite a recent wave of recalls by PC makers of Sony-made notebook computer batteries,” Kiyoshi Takenaka reports for Reuters.

“‘The battery operation is a very important business for us. We have no intention of quitting it or scaling it down,’ Sony Executive Deputy President Yutaka Nakagawa told a news conference,” Takenaka reports.

Takenaka reports, “Up to 9.6 million batteries, manufactured between August 2003 and February 2006, will be involved. ‘I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for causing worries over safety of lithium-ion batteries,’ Nakagawa said.”

Full article here.

“Sony Corp. said Tuesday its recall of batteries supplied to personal computer manufacturers may lead to a future decline in orders for its battery business,” MarketWatch reports.

“PC makers are asking one or more companies other than Sony to supply replacement batteries as Sony doesn’t have the supply capacity for all of the 9.6 million battery packs subject to recall, Sony’s corporate executive for semiconductor and components Yutaka Nakagawa said,” MarketWatch reports.

MarketWatch reports., “Help from rivals in the battery business, though necessary to complete the replacement program, raises risks of losing future battery orders for the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant. ‘There is a possibility that some of the orders from PC makers may not come back to us,’ Nakagawa said in a news conference on the recall details following its discussion with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.”

Full article here.

Related MacDailyNews articles:
Sony recalls 340,000 more Sony-botched batteries, includes Sony Vaio laptops – October 23, 2006
Sony recalls 90,000 Sony-botched batteries, plans to widen the recall – October 17, 2006
Sharp recalls 28,000 Sony-botched laptop batteries – October 13, 2006
Hitachi joins recall of Sony-botched laptop batteries – October 06, 2006
Fujitsu recalls 287,000 Sony-botched laptop batteries – October 04, 2006
Toshiba to recall 830,000 more defective Sony-made laptop batteries – September 29, 2006
Lenovo recalls 526,000 Sony laptop batteries; Sony to initiate global battery replacement program – September 28, 2006
Virgin Atlantic lifts total ban on in-flight use of Apple, Dell notebook batteries – September 25, 2006
Virgin Atlantic bans use of all Apple, Dell notebook batteries in-flight – September 18, 2006
Korean Air bans use of Apple PowerBooks, iBooks, and all Dell laptop models during flight – September 05, 2006
Dell Japan President blames Sony for recall of fire hazardous batteries – August 29, 2006
Sony-made battery fire in discontinued Apple notebook computer reported in Japan – August 29, 2006
Apple to recall 1.8 million Sony-made iBook G4, PowerBook G4 batteries – August 24, 2006
Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and others working on battery standard – August 23, 2006
Qantas first airline to restrict in-flight Dell laptop use due to fire-prone batteries – August 23, 2006
Dell and Sony knew about battery problems nearly a year ago, waited for catastrophic failures – August 21, 2006
Dell issues largest safety recall in history: 4.1 million laptop batteries due to fire threat – August 14, 2006
Another Dell laptop goes up in flames – July 28, 2006
Dell laptop fires may have been downplayed – July 22, 2006
NY Times: Dell’s exploding laptop and other image problems – July 10, 2006
Dell laptop explodes into flames at Japanese conference – June 21, 2006