Half a dozen new cases of “exploding iPhones” have emerged in France this week, putting Apple into hot water, as its alliance with China Unicom seems close to an agreement.
An 80-year-old pensioner from the Paris suburbs said Wednesday his iPhone screen cracked up in his hands, a day after a supermarket employee claimed he was hurt in the eye when his screen suddenly shattered.
Ten French consumers have now come forward saying their iPhone screens exploded or cracked without explanation, according to an AFP tally, including a first case in mid-August in which a teenager suffered an eye injury.
None of the incidents has caused a serious injury but Apple was forced to defend the safety of its flagship smartphone before the European Union this month, insisting the exploding screens were “isolated incidents.”
The US technology giant, which has sold 26 million iPhones and 200 million iPods, said it had been informed of the French cases, but would not comment until it had examined the damaged phones.
But France’s official competition, consumer affairs and fraud watchdog, the DGCCRF, has launched an investigation to find out whether the Apple iPhone could pose a threat to consumers.
Chinese concerns
Hearing the explosion news, many Chinese citizens yesterday posted their opinions on the Internet, expressing concerns over the safety of the gadgets.
A citizen from Anhui Province pointed out in a forum on sina.com that “The problem of Apple gadgets’ getting hot while in use is not a new one, but it has never been explained or improved, how strange!”
Meanwhile, Apple is getting closer to clearing the hurdles to iPhone sales in China, the world’s largest mobile market with some 687 million users.
China Unicom will announce a deal to sell Apple’s iPhone in China as soon as today, an analyst said, citing an industry source with direct knowledge of the situation.
Rumors have been circulating for months that China Unicom and Apple would sell iPhones in China. One point of contention was reportedly the revenue-sharing model adopted by Apple, which China Unicom opposed.
Earlier this month, the disclosure of some negotiation details by officials from the Guangdong branch of China Unicom sparked harsh criticism of the estimated 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) payment by China Unicom for Apple’s “5 billion” smartphones, casting more doubts on the revenue-sharing model between them.
However, China Unicom yesterday also denied the announcement would take place today because the deal has not been signed yet.
Meanwhile, the continuing wait for the arrival of the iPhone to China has produced an estimated 1 million users of smuggled iPhones, according to MSN news.
Source:[news.alibaba.com]
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