Monday, 27 August 2007

Matsushita To Reimburse Nokia For Battery Recall

Japanese consumer electronics giant Matsushita Electric will foot the entire bill of Nokia, which is recalling over 46 million batteries.

Espoo, Finland based Nokia, the world’s top mobile phone maker had two weeks ago advised customers across the world to replace batteries manufactured by the Japanese conglomerate as the batteries could overheat and explode. After the release, Nokia was inundated with calls, text messages and emails from customers that were confused. Nokia said the batteries being recalled were Nokia BL-5C batteries made between December 2005 and November 2006 by Matsushita in its Chinese factory.

Matsushita, owner of famous brands National and Panasonic, said the reimbursement to Nokia could cost the company between 10-20 billion yen or USD 85-170 million.

Nokia reported over 100 instances of Matsushita made battery over heating globally while charging, but it also said there were no instances of any serious injury.