Exploding iPhones 'isolated incidents', Apple assures

Brussels last week asked Apple to explain the phenomenon after a French teenager's claim that an Apple iPhone shattered in his face and a case in Britain of an exploding iPod portable music player.

"Apple has come back to us this morning. They consider that these are isolated incidents," said commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns.

"They don't consider that there's a general problem," and are seeking more information on the reported cases and will carry out any necessary tests, she told reporters in Brussels.

For its part the commission has asked the 27 EU nations to keep it informed of any such cases.

A US television news station last month reported that an "alarming number" of iPods "have suddenly burst into flames and smoke, injuring people and damaging property."

The station said that Apple lawyers tried to stop it from getting hold of hundreds of pages of iPod-related documents which included information on "15 burn and fire-related incidents blamed by iPod owners on their iPods."

The cause of the trouble appears to be overheated lithium ion batteries, according to the Seattle-based KIRO television station's review of the paperwork.

(c) 2009 AFP