Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/24/apple_battery_recall/
Dell isn't the only manufacturer affected by Sony's exploding batteries. Apple has issued a recall of 1.8m batteries for PowerBooks and iBooks sold between October 2003 and August 2006 inclusive. It's the fourth time in two years that Apple has issued a recall, but this time it's by far the most serious.
"We want [users] to take the batteries out of the laptops immediately," the US Consumer Product Safety Commission told press today.
Apple's battery recall page is here (http://support.apple.com/batteryprogram/?www.reghardware.co.uk). In August 2004, Apple recalled batteries in PowerBooks and iBooks sold from January that year up to the time of the recall. In May 2005, Apple issued a recall of batteries in PowerBooks and iBooks sold between October 2004 up to the time of the recall. The batteries had been manufactured by LG Chem.
And in late July, Apple recalled (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/07/31/apple_battery_recall/) some MacBook Pro notebook batteries sold between February and May, for " battery performance" reasons it didn't specify, although it stressed there was no safety issue.
"In the 1990s, when Apple had a similar notebook problem - PowerBooks caught fire and damaged the company's reputation at the time - the problematic PowerBook acquired a funny nickname inside the company: 'The Hindenbook'," writes Tim Onosko in a submission to Dave Farber's IP Mailing List.
The recall of Dell's Zippo batteries will already cost Sony between $200m and $300m, according to industry analysts, or exactly $430m, if you want to be really scientific, stick your finger in the air, and guess (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/16/sony_recall_cost/).
Australian airline Qantas has already banned Dell laptops (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/23/qantas_dell_measures/) from being used with their batteries on board their flights. ®
Gateway recalls 14,000 more laptop batteries (20 June 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/06/20/gateway_battery_recall/
Acer recalls 27,000 Sony laptop batteries (26 April 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04/26/acer_recalls_27k_batteries/
Panasonic pitches 'safe' lithium-ion laptop battery (18 December 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/18/panasonic_pitches_safe_li-ions/
NEC recalls fire-risk desktop PCs (18 December 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/18/nec_desktop_pc_recall/
Sony says battery burn-out probe should have been quicker (4 December 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/04/sony_battery_confession/
Fujitsu admits its laptop 'overheated and sparked' (30 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/30/fujitsu_laptop_sparks/
Gateway opens up to Sony battery recall plan (24 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/24/gateway_laptop_battery_recall/
Sony begins Vaio battery recall (17 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/17/sony_japan_recalls_90k_vaio_batteries/
Fujitsu wants 287,000 Sony batteries back (4 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/04/fujitsu_battery_recall/
Virgin eases in-flight Apple, Dell laptop battery limits (22 September 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/22/virgin_eases_apple_dell_battery_rules/
Yahoo! guest's Dell laptop goes up in smoke (21 September 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/21/burning_laptop_epidemic/
Toshiba recalls 340,000 Sony-made batteries (19 September 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/19/toshiba_notebook_battery_recall/
Virgin tells travellers to remove Apple, Dell laptop batteries (14 September 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/14/virgin_apple_dell_battery_ban/
Korean airline says no to Apple, Dell laptops (13 September 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/13/korean_air_bans_apple_dell_batteries/
What if Apple held a movie party, but only Disney came? (12 September 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/12/apple_movie_downloads_analysis/
Dell laptop detonates in UK home (1 September 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/01/dell_laptop_combustion_uk/
Japan tells Apple to probe burning battery problem (30 August 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/30/japan_apple_battery_probe/
Qantas clamps down on fire-breathing Dells (23 August 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/23/qantas_dell_measures/
'Zippo' battery recall could cost Sony $430m and a truck (16 August 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/16/sony_recall_cost/
Dell's 'Zippo' batteries may be in other machines (16 August 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/16/dell_battery_problems/
Dell recalls 4.1m laptop batteries (14 August 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/14/dell_laptop_recall/
Two more laptops light up (3 August 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/03/more_laptops_burn/
Dell laptop smoked in Singapore (31 July 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/07/31/dell_laptop_burned_in_sinagpore/
Apple requests return of MacBook Pro batteries (31 July 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/07/31/apple_battery_recall/
Apple admits MacBook, MacBook Pro issues (27 July 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/07/27/apple_acknowledges_macbook_issues/
Dell said to have 'dozens' of burned laptop incidents on file (21 July 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/07/21/overheating_laptops/
Early MacBook Pros hit by battery glitch? (4 May 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05/04/apple_macbook_pro_battery_issue/
Dell recalls 35,000 notebook batteries (19 December 2005)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2005/12/19/dell_battery_recall/
Apple recalls notebook batteries - again (20 May 2005)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/20/apple_recalls_batteries/
Nokia sued over 'exploding phone' (14 March 2005)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/14/nokia_thailand_handset/
Apple recalls 15in PowerBook batteries (20 August 2004)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/20/apple_battery_recall/