Outcry in India over Nokia phones
Sunday, 19 August 2007
NEW DELHI, Aug 18 (AFP): The world's leading mobile phone maker Nokia pleaded for calm in India yesterday as thousands of anxious customers sought free replacements for potentially defective batteries made in Japan.
Police laid on extra security at one Nokia customer centre and crowds thronged others across India, one of the world's largest mobile markets, after the Finnish firm Tuesday warned that some batteries were overheating.
"Your Nokia Is Safe To Use," the Finnish firm said in page-one advertisements in Indian newspapers.
The company received 165,000 SMS messages of distress following the advisory, said Devinder Kishore, the marketing chief of Nokia's Indian arm.
"Out of these calls and messages, about 4.5 per cent of batteries were found in the batch for which the product advisory has been issued," he told reporters. He said there had been no overheating complaints in India.
The batteries were manufactured by Japan's Matsushita Battery Industrial Co Ltd.
Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that the country's trade ministry had ordered Nokia's Japan unit to report on the troubles within the next week.
Nokia said this week that about 46 million batteries supplied by the Japanese firm could overheat.
The report said that it had taken Nokia's Japan unit 16 days to report to the ministry after it first learned of overheating cases, when it should have done so with 10 days under Japanese law.
Police laid on extra security at one Nokia customer centre and crowds thronged others across India, one of the world's largest mobile markets, after the Finnish firm Tuesday warned that some batteries were overheating.
"Your Nokia Is Safe To Use," the Finnish firm said in page-one advertisements in Indian newspapers.
The company received 165,000 SMS messages of distress following the advisory, said Devinder Kishore, the marketing chief of Nokia's Indian arm.
"Out of these calls and messages, about 4.5 per cent of batteries were found in the batch for which the product advisory has been issued," he told reporters. He said there had been no overheating complaints in India.
The batteries were manufactured by Japan's Matsushita Battery Industrial Co Ltd.
Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that the country's trade ministry had ordered Nokia's Japan unit to report on the troubles within the next week.
Nokia said this week that about 46 million batteries supplied by the Japanese firm could overheat.
The report said that it had taken Nokia's Japan unit 16 days to report to the ministry after it first learned of overheating cases, when it should have done so with 10 days under Japanese law.