And then just days later, Dell said it was recalling more than 4 million notebook batteries in the US because they may overheat and catch fire. The recall of the lithium-ion batteries, which include power cells from Sony Corp, is thought to be the largest in US consumer electronics history.
The defective batteries were in notebooks sold between April 1, 2004 and July 18, 2006. Dell said it doesn’t expect the recall to have a negative effect on its forthcoming financial earnings. Sony also is expected to share some of the financial burden of the recall.
In China, Dell’s troubles are the result of a marketing misstep. The Austin, Texas-based company did not update its marketing material to reflect its shift from the Intel T2300 processor to the T2300E in some notebooks.
Among the unhappy customers were enterprises because the cheaper T2300E does not support Intel’s VT, or virtualization technology.
Dell may be facing a lawsuit over the matter, according to reports quoting the Corporate Social Responsibility in China’s website. The lawsuit reportedly seems involve 19 Chinese consumers and is currently under review by a court in Shanghai.
