In the summer of 2010, a Japanese man's iPod caught fire while his wife was charging it, and the incident caused quite serious burns to that person. The terminal in question is a first generation iPod Nano that was purchased by the Japanese in September of 2005 but caught fire 5 years later after a very long period of use. The worst part is that the Japanese wife suffered burns that required a month of medical care and the Apple company was forced to pay $7.425 to the victim, the amount representing moral damages and the medical expenses she incurred to recover.
According to the judgment, the couple purchased the device shortly after its release, in September of 2005, but an attempt to charge it in July of 2010 caused the battery to overheat, catching the device on fire, and causing burns to the wife's hands that it took a month to fully heal. A representative from Apple Japan Public Relations told Nikkei "we cannot comment without confirming with our American head office."
Unfortunately for Apple, these devices have had problems like this before and there is a good chance that in the future we will hear about similar accidents and those who will take Apple to court will definitely get their money. Even the iPhone terminals were not spared from such problems, but in their case, for now, Apple has not been sued in court because no one has ever been injured.
