Apple’s all-new iPod nano has been in the news lately, receiving rave reviews but also a wave of criticism since recent claims that the iPod nano ships with a faulty screen. This is not the case, an Apple representative says.
The allegation first surfaced on the Flawedmusicplayer.com website, which claimed iPod nano screens become damaged during such commonplace as being in a user’s pocket. Some customers have reported the device to fail within hours of purchase.
In one case a 15 year-old boy told the website: “I pulled my iPod out and my heart dropped. The LCD was half destroyed, but there is no visible scratch or mark on the outside of the iPod.”
Apple confirmed the problem exits, saying, “This is a real but minor issue involving a vendor quality problem in a small number of units. Our figures show this issue has affected less than 1/10 of 1% of the total iPod nano units that we’ve shipped. It is not a design issue.”
Affected customers simply need to contact Apple to arrange a free replacement unit.
A second complaint has been that the iPod nano screen gets scratched easily.
Apple moved to scotch such rumours, saying: “A few vocal customers are saying that their iPod nano is more susceptible to scratching than prior iPods. We have received very few calls from customers reporting this problem and do not believe this is a widespread issue.”
The representative confirmed the company to have received some calls claiming such a problem, adding: “The iPod nano is made with the same high-quality polycarbonate plastic as the fourth-generation iPod. We suggest concerned customers use one of the iPod nano cases that are coming to market to protect the music player,” the representative told Computerworld.
Since Apple clarified the situation, Matthew Peterson, the man behind the FlawedMusicPlayer website has issued his own statement on events: “I am delighted to see Apple take this issue seriously,” he writes.
“We have the completely unusable iPod Nano issue fixed. I guess I can handle using an iPod sock on my Nano knowing that I can look at my screen and show someone a picture. Thank you Apple,” he adds.
“I got what I wanted, fixed iPod Nano’s for the people who deserve them (and by deserve I mean people who bought Nano’s and had their screen crack)," he wrote, urging readers, “go buy one.”
Of four iPod nanos tested by Computerworld NZ, two were far more easily scratched than expected.