08/25/.....Apple recalls 1.8M Sony batteries

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Apple recalls 1.8M Sony batteries

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -- Apple Computer Inc. will recall 1.8 million

ithium-ion notebook computer batteries after nine devices overheated, causing

minor burns to two users, U.S. safety regulators said on Thursday.

The recall is the second-biggest in U.S. history involving electronics or computers. Just last

week, No. 1 PC maker Dell Inc. recalled 4.1 million lithium-ion batteries.

In both cases, the batteries had power cells made by Sony Corp. Apple, like Dell, said it did not

expect any "material" financial impact on its business.

Sony said in a separate statement that it did not anticipate further recalls of batteries using the

potentially faulty cells. The Japanese electronics company said the Apple and Dell recalls

would cost Sony between 20 billion yen and 30 billion yen -- or $172 million to $258 million.

Cupertino, California-based Apple will recall 1.1 million batteries sold with notebook computers

in the United States and 700,000 abroad, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

"Our No. 1 priority is to recall and replace the affected batteries free of charge," Apple

spokesman Steve Dowling said. The reported overheating incidents were due to

"contamination" in the Sony battery cells, he added.

The batteries were sold with Apple iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 computers from October 2003

through this month, according to the safety commission.

None of Apple's most recent notebooks using microprocessors from Intel Corp. are affected,

Dowling said.

Apple had said last week after the Dell recall that it was reviewing its notebook batteries to

ensure they met its standards.

"The key message to consumers is these lithium-ion batteries can actually overheat and pose

a fire hazard," said Scott Wolfson, spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission in

Washington.

Shares of Apple were down 45 cents at $67.76 in afternoon trading on Nasdaq following the

recall announcement. Earlier, they had dipped as low as $66.27.

"Sony clearly has a problem here," said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst at Creative Strategies in

San Jose, California. "There's a problem with the batteries overheating."

Bajarin noted, however, that in Apple's case there were no reported notebook fires, while

several of the recalled Dell computers had erupted in flames. Dell said it had reports of six

batteries overheating, but no injuries were reported.

The recall follows a smaller Apple recall of lithium-ion batteries in certain iBook G4 and

PowerBook G4 notebooks sold worldwide from October 2004, through May 2005. Those

batteries were made by LG Chem Ltd. of South Korea, according to Apple's Web site.

Dell of Round Rock, Texas, last week began a voluntary recall of 2.7 million batteries sold in the

United States and 1.4 million sold overseas. The Dell-branded batteries were in computers

sold from April, 2004, through July 18 of this year.