Apple confirms iPod nano problem

[willa]

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Wed Sep 28,10:20 AM ET

Apple Computer Inc. has acknowledged customer complaints about flaws in its iPod nano digital music player, saying one problem is a "real but minor issue."

Early iPod nano customers have filled several Internet sites with complaints about broken and scratch-prone LCD screens.

Macworld magazine late Tuesday quoted Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, as saying the broken screens were due to a "vendor quality issue" that affected "less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the total iPod nano units that we've shipped."

Schiller said customers who had broken screens could receive replacements.

He also said Apple had received few complaints about screen scratches, and that the iPod nano screen was made of the same materials used in other iPods. He said if customers were concerned about scratches, they should use a case.

The comments seemed to satisfy some of the users who had complained about the problems.

"I am very delighted to see Apple take this issue seriously," Matthew Peterson, an iPod nano owner who set up a Web site to collect photos of damaged iPods, said in a statement on his site.

"It is sad that it took a Web site and a lot of publicity before they finally investigated, but at least future nano users with the same problem I had will not be subjected to the same treatment that I was."

Apple introduced the iPod nano earlier this month as a replacement for the iPod mini, offering a two-gigabyte version for $199 and a four-gigabyte model for $249.

Apple's iPod line commands roughly 75 percent of the market for digital music players and provide one-third of Apple's total revenue. Apple shares opened down 44 cents at $53 on Nasdaq.