Nokia: Genuine products lead to longer life
Product safety is a top priority at Nokia and users should purchase genuine products to ensure their safety, said the Finnish phonemaker in response to a recent report of a man killed by an exploding Nokia phone.
According to media reports last week, an Indian man was believed to have died from a mobile phone explosion. Local police deduced from forensic investigations that the man's Nokia 1209 was struck by lightning leading to the explosion, said the reports. According to The Times of India, the government had ordered an investigation into the explosion.
While Nokia was unable to comment on the incident, a company spokesperson told ZDNet that product safety, quality and reliability are the company's top priorities and its manufacturing facilities follow "very stringent quality standards".
Apart from its own quality standards, the phonemaker's devices and accessories are tested against and comply with known, internationally recognized quality standards, the Nokia spokesperson said in an e-mail interview.
He also advised customers to buy authorized devices and genuine batteries and accessories as these would have gone through the same "stringent quality and safety standards" at its factories.
In the Asia-Pacific region, genuine products often compete with gray market products such as bandit phones which are knockoffs of branded phones.
An industry analyst, however, brushed aside labeling bandit phones as hazardous. In a previous ZDNet Asia report, Bryan Wang, Asia-Pacific research director for connectivity and country manager of China at Springboard Research, said reports of exploding bandit phones were not significantly higher than other established brands.
Even devices from companies lauded for their strict quality control are sometimes too hot to handle. In Japan, for instance, a rush-hour train came to a halt last week for 8 minutes to investigate a burning smell in the carriage. The culprit was later identified to be a melting Apple iPod.
Apple did not respond to ZDNet Asia's questions about the overheated iPod.
The company's Japan office in mid-August offered to replace first-generation iPod Nano to address complaints of overheating batteries.