Tech & Biz

French Guard Hurt By Exploding iPhone: Third Case This Month

by Annina Bergman | August 25, 2009 at 02:17 pm

67 views | 10 Recommendations | 1 comment

Yassine Bouhadi, 26-year-old security guard in the French town Villevieille, was hit by glass shards on Monday when his iPhone exploded while he was sending a text message. This was the second incident involving exploding iPhones in France this month. A French teenager received an eye injury earlier this month, after his girlfriend's iPhone started hissing and the screen broke.

In Britain, an 11-year-old girl's iPod Touch exploded after it was dropped on the ground. The girl's father, noticing the iPod getting hotter, threw it in the back yard where it exploded within 30 seconds.

The European Union and the French consumer watchdog DGCCRF are investigating the incidents.

A spokesman for France's consumer rights group, UFC-Que Choisir, called on Apple to "communicate a bit more with its customers" about reported glitches with its iPod and iPhone devices.

"We want to know if this is an isolated incident as they claim, or a real problem involving the iPhone - in which case, what are they planning by way of compensation and to prevent it happening again?"