RIM rules out battery flaw with Blackberry Bold

February 28, 2009

Enlarge

An RIM employee displays the BlackBerry Bold smart phone in September 2008. Canada's Research In Motion (RIM) has ruled out faulty batteries as the likely cause of keyboards heating up during recharging of its BlackBerry Bold smart phones sold in Japan.

Canada's Research In Motion said Friday it has ruled out faulty batteries as the likely cause of keyboards heating up during recharging of its BlackBerry Bold smart phones sold in Japan.

Earlier, Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo announced it had suspended domestic sales of BlackBerry Bold after about 30 users reported the keyboards heated up during recharging.

There were no reports of the cellphone handsets catching fire or causing injuries, the company said in a statement, which was issued only a week after the model was put on the Japanese market.

"This issue appears to be specifically limited to the BlackBerry Bold devices sold in Japan since last week and sales of BlackBerry Bold devices in other countries are unaffected by this matter," RIM said in a statement.

"Although RIM's analysis of the devices in question has allowed it to rule out a battery problem, the root cause remains under investigation," the company said.

"The temperatures appear to have remained within the safety range of regulatory standards."

RIM added that "the companies hope to renew sales in Japan soon."

About 4,000 units of the BlackBerry Bold, which was launched by RIM last year, were sold in Japan in the seven days since its local debut, DoCoMo said.

RIM announced in December that the number of Blackberry users had reached some 21 million in more than 140 countries.

RIM shares were up almost three percent in morning trading in Toronto, at 51.26 Canadian dollars (40.47 US).

(c) 2009 AFP