Sony plans to replace up to 10 million laptop batteries

1 Comment | USA TODAY, September, 2006 | by Byron Acohido and Roger Yu

Sony on Thursday announced a global replacement program covering at least 7 million laptop batteries -- and perhaps as many as 10 million. That came shortly after Lenovo became the fourth laptop maker in recent weeks to recall Sony batteries that can overheat and burst into flames. In moving to quell anxiety about laptops, Sony could help disperse clouds gathering over the lucrative notebook PC market heading into the holiday sales season, tech industry analysts said.

"The industry needs to move past this as fast as possible, because if they don't, it could stifle adoption and usage and slow down the transition from desktop PCs to notebooks," says IDC analyst Richard Shim. Laptop sales should grow 24% worldwide this year vs. 4% for desktop PCs, according to IDC. PC makers...