By Rachel Kurowski, Associated Press Writer
Friday, August 28, 2009
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PARIS (AP) — France's top trade official is meeting Friday with the financial director of Apple France to discuss several recent claims by iPhone users that their phone screens cracked or exploded.
Herve Novelli, secretary of state for trade and consumer affairs, said in a statement he will question Apple's Michel Coulomb about the "causes of the implosion of these devices and eventual measures they could take." The issue was raised by France's agency for consumer fraud protection.
Novelli said he would remind Apple of "general security obligations" of companies whose products are on the French market.
Apple's chief European spokesman, Alain Hely, said, "We take customer safety reports very seriously. We are aware of a small number of recent safety reports regarding iPhone and we are investigating them."
Apple is looking into a small number of cases of battery overheating in iPhones and has also analyzed cases of cracked screens, but "in all cases the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone," Hely said.
French media have reported more than 10 cases of iPhone screens cracking or phones exploding. The first case that caught attention was in early July, when an iPhone explosion reportedly sent glass into the eye of an 18-year-old from Aix-en-Provence.
Frank Benoiton, of Acheres-la-Foret south of Paris, said the screen of his wife's iPhone cracked without warning last week.
"It was not dropped and experienced no unusual shock," he said. Benoiton went to Orange France, the phone company where he bought the phone, to try and get it fixed. He said Orange told him they could not help him because it was caused by the phone user and to contact Apple. He said Apple France, too, said it was a result of user error.
Benoiton insisted he and his wife were not at fault.
The European Commission said last week that it spoke to Apple about reports in different EU countries of problems with iPhones and iPods and that the company is investigating.
Associated Press writer Angela Charlton contributed to this report.