Sony batteries really blew it

Lithium-Ion batteries from Sony are currently in the eye of a major communication tornado. Everything that could go wrong is going wrong. We had heard of the exploding DELL portable PCs; This was followed by a major recall of batteries. Then, we heard that the Apple iBooks were also subject to the same: explosions and recall. Today, this is Toshiba who’s heard annoncing a giant recall of 340,000 batteries manufactured by Sony.

I would forecast that, one after the other, it’s all of a family of Sony Lithium-Ion batteries that will return to Japan before the end of the year. And, in the mean time, we start hearing that commercial airlines start refusing cabin travel for some batteries. Korean, then Virgin Atlantic, announced indeed that portable PCs branded Dell and Apple will no longer be allowed in the passenger cabin if they contain their batteries (the ugly, heavy, dangerous little black block will have to travel as checked-in baggage in -relatively safe – storage. Most corporate managers will now have a hard time playing Solitaire or MineSweeper in the plane).