Motorola, Nokia, facing battery issues
Nokia and Motorola Inc. are investigating whether counterfeit products are being passed off as their brands.
A Chinese man in the Gansu province died when the battery in his Motorola cell phone exploded, the Chinese press reported last week.
Both Motorola and Nokia phones and batteries reportedly failed recent safety tests, but both companies said those products were counterfeited in China's Guangdong province, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.
"One of the alleged Motorola phones tested was not even a model we make," said a company spokesman.
The phone troubles come at a time when Chinese-made products, from pet food and seafood to toy trains, have been found faulty and possibly deadly, the Tribune reported.
Motorola said its Chinese-made batteries come from suppliers that pass "strict vendor requirements." The lithium batteries have more energy density than previous generations of batteries, said Nokia spokesman Keith Nowak. As a result, counterfeiting is of added concern because it involves a potentially combustible material.
"In the old days, if a battery went bad the phone went dead," Nowak said. "It's a whole different matter now where something more serious can happen." // Copyright 2007 by United Press International
- Nokia shares recover after Microsoft sale rumours
- Nokia cuts sales and profit-margin forecasts
- Nokia to shed 7,000 staff as part of reorganisation
- Finland in double-dip recession
- Brown replaces Zander at Motorola
- DEA chief to become Motorola lobbyist
- Nokia to buy mapmaker Navteq
- Nokia to buy mapmaker Navteq
- Nokia buys U.S. mobile ad company
- Motorola, Nokia, facing battery issues
- Asia, US helps Mercedes Benz sales hit record high in 2006
- Cricova: The Largest Underground Wine Cellar in the World
- What does Remortgage mean?
- Dutch bear profit rises 26 percent
- Foreign direct investment in India doubles during 2006
- Greece: Socialist government's budget deficit of 12.5% caused debt crisis
- Toyota in talks to build new China plant
- Walt Disney profit up 39 percent
- DaimlerChrysler is not planning to manufacture trucks in India