AfterDawn: News

Apple reassures French government over iPhone cracking, exploding claims

Apple France's financial director, Michel Coulomb, met with France's Secretary of State for Trade, Herve Novelli, on Friday to reassure the French government of the iPhone's safety following a burst of media reports about the product in recent weeks. The company stated that reports of iPhones suddenly cracking, and a report about an iPhone exploding, were not due to a defect, but improper handling by users.

Coulomb said that no cases of the iPhone's battery overheating have been detected, and that iPhones with broken screens were damaged by excessive external pressure on the device. Novelli more or less agreed that the explosions didn't appear to be caused by the batteries, and said that non-Apple experts in the United States were examining three problematic iPhones sent from France.



One iPhone user, Frank Benoiton, disagrees with the claim that the screen damage is caused by users. His wife has an iPhone, which suffered a cracked screen recently. "It was not dropped and experienced no unusual shock," he said. He appealed to Orange France to fix the device, but they told him to contact Apple. The iPhone maker initially told him that the screen was broken by a user and so nothing would be done on their part - but then days later reversed its decision and said the phone would be replaced free of charge.

"I am very satisfied about that. I wasn't trying to get a new phone, just a new screen, but sure, why not," Benoiton said. Another provider of iPhones in the country, France Telecom, which has sold 1.2 million iPhones, said it is monitoring the reports of iPhone problems but hasn't taken any measures so far.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 31 Aug 2009 0:18

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• 10 comments

• KillerBug

  Yeah, just blame the customer...it's their fault for touching the touchscreen too hard, it's their fault for talking on it for over an hour in the sun, it's their fault for buying from Apple.

  31.8.2009 02:53 #1

• xnonsuchx

  Originally posted by KillerBug: Yeah, just blame the customer...it's their fault for touching the touchscreen too hard, it's their fault for talking on it for over an hour in the sun, it's their fault for buying from Apple.
  Most damage to electronic devices (especially mobile ones) are due to end-user misuse. If you were selling such devices, would you be taking every customer with a damaged one at their word that they didn't damage it, so it must have mysteriously happened on its own? The customer is not always right...and the companies are not always the bad guys. The only thing I've seen genuinely bad about these stories towards Apple has been some tactless customer service reps, but that's gonna happen in most customer service centers.
  
  I know...you hate Apple no matter what.

  31.8.2009 07:10 #2

• DXR88

  the consumer is always right(even when they may be wrong).
  
  thats the first law of consumerism.

  31.8.2009 14:37 #3

• pereirab

  As we can see, Apples detectives are working around the clock to cover up all it's mistakes made by pushing the blame to the consumer.
  
  If you use an iPod to listen to music and it explodes, It's definitely your fault because you probably did something wrong. . . .And if you didn't then you were probably going to do something wrong in the future. Either way it's your fault for buying Apple.
  
  Quote: would you be taking every customer with a damaged one at their word that they didn't damage it, so it must have mysteriously happened on its own? The customer is not always right.Yes! As a producer of a largely manufactured product, it is their fault. As DXR88 said the customer is always right. Apple needs to stop pussy-footing around the real issue and start fixing the problems they created. There's nothing wrong with admitting to a mistake and then fixing the issue. . . is there?

  31.8.2009 18:20 #4

• xnonsuchx

  Quote:As we can see, Apples detectives are working around the clock to cover up all it's mistakes made by pushing the blame to the consumer.
  
  If you use an iPod to listen to music and it explodes, It's definitely your fault because you probably did something wrong. . . .And if you didn't then you were probably going to do something wrong in the future. Either way it's your fault for buying Apple.
  
  Quote: would you be taking every customer with a damaged one at their word that they didn't damage it, so it must have mysteriously happened on its own? The customer is not always right.Yes! As a producer of a largely manufactured product, it is their fault. As DXR88 said the customer is always right. Apple needs to stop pussy-footing around the real issue and start fixing the problems they created. There's nothing wrong with admitting to a mistake and then fixing the issue. . . is there?
  That's the problem...no "issue" has been proven to even exist, except for a smattering of isolated, inconclusive-at-best incidents. You'd be an idiot to just give-in to every customer who claimed such things. You may as well be claiming the product sexually assaulted you and wanting reparations...is the customer still always right then???

  1.9.2009 14:49 #5

• pereirab

  Quote:Quote:As we can see, Apples detectives are working around the clock to cover up all it's mistakes made by pushing the blame to the consumer.
  
  If you use an iPod to listen to music and it explodes, It's definitely your fault because you probably did something wrong. . . .And if you didn't then you were probably going to do something wrong in the future. Either way it's your fault for buying Apple.
  
  Quote: would you be taking every customer with a damaged one at their word that they didn't damage it, so it must have mysteriously happened on its own? The customer is not always right.Yes! As a producer of a largely manufactured product, it is their fault. As DXR88 said the customer is always right. Apple needs to stop pussy-footing around the real issue and start fixing the problems they created. There's nothing wrong with admitting to a mistake and then fixing the issue. . . is there?
  That's the problem...no "issue" has been proven to even exist, except for a smattering of isolated, inconclusive-at-best incidents. You'd be an idiot to just give-in to every customer who claimed such things. You may as well be claiming the product sexually assaulted you and wanting reparations...is the customer still always right then???I don't know how we went from exploding iPhones to Sexual assault enthused iPhones so I'll try stay on topic if that's alright.
  
  I understand that an exploding iPhone does come across as an unusual and unlikely problem but when you take into account a 1.5 million sale base in France alone, does a few exploding iPhones really seem that unusual? When there is a mass production of anything the chances are there for a few malfunctions and all I'm saying is Apple should learn to just fix them and not make a big deal out of the whole thing.
  
  Also, as for proof; I'm not sure how they can get someone catching their phone exploding on a camera so all reliable evidence doesn't really exist. . . That is until the "Non-Apple" experts have done their work.
  
  Just for the record I don't hate Apple, I actually own an iPhone and quite frankly love it. I would just like the peace of mind knowing that if something freakishly wrong didhappened to it (ie. it explodes) it would be nice to know that Apple would replace it should it be their fault.

  1.9.2009 18:14 #6

• xnonsuchx

  Originally posted by pereirab: I don't know how we went from exploding iPhones to Sexual assault enthused iPhones so I'll try stay on topic if that's alright.
  
  I understand that an exploding iPhone does come across as an unusual and unlikely problem but when you take into account a 1.5 million sale base in France alone, does a few exploding iPhones really seem that unusual? When there is a mass production of anything the chances are there for a few malfunctions and all I'm saying is Apple should learn to just fix them and not make a big deal out of the whole thing.
  
  Also, as for proof; I'm not sure how they can get someone catching their phone exploding on a camera so all reliable evidence doesn't really exist. . . That is until the "Non-Apple" experts have done their work.
  
  Just for the record I don't hate Apple, I actually own an iPhone and quite frankly love it. I would just like the peace of mind knowing that if something freakishly wrong didhappened to it (ie. it explodes) it would be nice to know that Apple would replace it should it be their fault.
  The issue was just that some people (mostly who hate Apple or corporations in general regardless) always assume ANY report of a defect is obviously undeniable proof of the company's negligence and evilness. Nobody's saying a company shouldn't support an actually defective product...but there has to be proof or at least a reasonable assumption that damage was due to a defect.
  
  It's usually easy to tell if a screen has been damaged from the outside or the inside or if it was due to impact/temp or other stress. Sparking/smoking/exploding also depends on if it was on a charger at the time (it could be the charger/cable that could also be a 3rd party's at fault, or it could be an electrical surge sent into the unit). The only fact is that you rarely get enough facts of any particular 'event' to be able to make that determination, yet there's a dozen or so blogs making unfounded cases and a few amateurish media outlets repeating such essentially useless info as news. THOSE people come across as the more untrustworthy ones.

  1.9.2009 20:27 #7

• DXR88

  maybe just maybe it was those 1/10 units that where defective during production type deal.
  
  if my battery exploded and burned me i couldn't give a rats ass if it was those 3rd party chargers. its an ipod its meant to be dropped a few times and knocked a little, not sit in its ipod cradle.

  2.9.2009 00:38 #8

• trainmstr

  i had an iphone that would shock the living shyt out of my face if i talked on it while it was charging from my computer.
  
  Behold! Apple said it was my fault because i was charging it on a computer i built myself.
  
  I asked them how they would know it was on a computer i built myself and the girl paused and started backtracking and then i said ya thats really odd being its plugged into an imac 24.
  
  After about 2 months of this BS they finally replaced the iphone only to find it still shocking the hell out of my face while talking on it plugged in to the computer.
  
  Then figured it was the imac24 ... which of course apple said well you must have done something to tamper with the imac heh. (get my drift here about apple blaming the consumer).
  
  SO now they actually wanted me to pack that monster up and drive it 60 miles to the nearest Apple store (even though it has the 3 year warranty). Hell no .. i said you come get the bastard.
  
  Sure enough ... the tech came and disassembled the imac and the power supply was "improperly grounded" ... and i told him ... must be my fault huh.

  2.9.2009 14:35 #9

• DXR88

  Originally posted by trainmstr: i had an iphone that would shock the living shyt out of my face if i talked on it while it was charging from my computer.
  
  Behold! Apple said it was my fault because i was charging it on a computer i built myself.
  
  I asked them how they would know it was on a computer i built myself and the girl paused and started backtracking and then i said ya thats really odd being its plugged into an imac 24.
  
  After about 2 months of this BS they finally replaced the iphone only to find it still shocking the hell out of my face while talking on it plugged in to the computer.
  
  
  Then figured it was the imac24 ... which of course apple said well you must have done something to tamper with the imac heh. (get my drift here about apple blaming the consumer).
  
  SO now they actually wanted me to pack that monster up and drive it 60 miles to the nearest Apple store (even though it has the 3 year warranty). Hell no .. i said you come get the bastard.
  
  Sure enough ... the tech came and disassembled the imac and the power supply was "improperly grounded" ... and i told him ... must be my fault huh.Shame on you.

  2.9.2009 17:46 #10