Frenchman hurt in new 'exploding iPhone' incident

26 Aug, 2009

A French security guard said Tuesday he had received a faceful of glass when the screen of his iPhone exploded, the second such reported incident in France. Yassine Bouhadi, a 26-year-old supermarket watchman from the south-eastern town of Villevieille, said he "was typing a text message, on Monday at around 3:00 pm, when the screen exploded."
Bouhadi, who says he was hit in the eye with a glass shard, said he was "very angry" and planned to consult a doctor and file suit for damages. "I want an explanation about this damned telephone," said Bouhadi, who bought the hugely-popular smartphone device for 600 euros (850 dollars) three months ago and now wants his money back.
A French teenager suffered an eye injury in a similar iPhone incident earlier this month, a few weeks after a brouhaha in Britain over an exploding iPod music player owned by an 11-year-old girl. A US television station also reported last month that an "alarming number" of iPods had burst into flames, although without causing serious injuries, a problem apparently caused by overheated lithium ion batteries. The US technology giant Apple, which makes the iPhone and iPod, assured the European Union earlier this month that the cases reported so far were "isolated incidents."

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