http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25927464-5014239,00.html

I was reading the news story from the link above and it got me thinking. The article basically refers back to a case where a teenager had his girlfriends iPhone, it apprantly started hissing and then shattered, flying shards of glass around with one getting into his eye. The Child is said to be taking action against apple for this ‘faulty’ product.

In Apple’s usual manner when there is a story on exploding or overheating iPods, they have refused to comment or take any action on the issue. In my opinion I know that if there was a problem with the product Apple would probably be quick to replace all affected models, they have done his in the past with other products like laptops and iPods. Although from a public relations and reputation management point of view I believe that by Apple refusing to make any statements they are treading a very thin line which could impact on customers trust in the company and it’s products.

Rather than taking the path that Apple’s lawyers dictate each and every time I feel it would benefit the company in the long run to actually come out and say something in situations like these, something to reassure every iPod, iPhone and Mac owner out there that the products they are using on a day to day basis have been tested thoroughly, and that the situations where something is happening, are an anomaly and a small percentage of all items out there on the market. By taking this path rather than the path determined by the lawyers it would put them in a better position to recover if there ever was a situation where a batch of iPhones were faulty.

Apple you need to understand that while you may be sitting pretty now – if you continue down a path where you fail to recognize and rectify issues, these issues will one day snowball into a crisis and one that could impact how you proceed in the marketplace.

But then again, Apple never have been the conventional thinking computer company, have they?