Fire alert over first-generation iPods

Software giant Apple said today that iPod music players sold in 2005 and 2006 can, on rare occasions overheat, fail and deform because of a battery defect traced to a single supplier.

The company said other models were unaffected.

Apple’s comments follow a disclosure by the Japanese government yesterday that it is investigating a possible battery defect in the first-generation iPod Nano.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said that it had received three reports of iPod Nano models overheating, two in Tokyo and one in Kanagawa Prefecture (state) near Tokyo.

The problem machines overheated, sending out sparks in one case, and scorching nearby paper and a woven straw mat in the other cases, government spokesman Hiroyuki Yoshitsune said.

Apple said such problems were extremely rare, at “less than 0.001% of the first-generation iPod Nano” models sold.

“There have been no reports of serious injuries or property damage, and no reports of incidents for any other iPod Nano model,” Apple, based in Cupertino, California, said.

Any customers worried about their iPod Nano devices, sold between September 2005 and December 2006, should contact AppleCare services, it said.

The Japanese government has been working with Apple to investigate the cause of the problem, and a defect in the lithium-ion battery had been suspected.

The iPods overheated while they were being recharged, according to the ministry reports.

Lithium-ion batteries have been blamed for a series of blazes in laptops that have resulted in massive global recalls.

Apple’s iPod players are extremely popular in Japan and coveted as fashion items although Japanese manufacturers produce a host of iPod rivals.

The Japan introduction of Apple’s iPhone drew huge queues in Tokyo last month.