Nokia phone furore unravels - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Nokia phone furore unravels

By Andrew Colley, 0
March 19, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Nokia-phone-furore-unravels/0,130061791,120264118,00.htm

Despite admitting that its 8210 mobile handsets are prone to failure, Nokia Australia still refuses to reveal whether the problem has affected other models.

A statement released yesterday identified "a component quality issue" with display parts supplied by an unnamed manufacturer.

Prior to this statement Nokia had refused to acknowledge that the failure rate of its popular 8210 handset had been significant.

Nokia continued to deny the existence of the problem, even after allegations from mobile phone dealers that it was aware of the design fault gained the support of a former employee of the company.

The issue also became the subject of an investigation by NSW Department of Fair Trading, after it received a large number of complaints regarding the handsets.

After reports that Nokia's European parent admitted that a batch of phones sold in Scandinavian countries carried display problems reached Australia, the local operation decided to investigate the display problem more thoroughly.

Nokia 8210 handsets produced between October 2001 and January 2002 carry the suspect display component. However, as ZDNet Australia previously reported, the former employee alleged that the problem affects every phone the Finnish electonics giant has built since retiring the Nokia 2110 -- an allegation at the time supported by mobile phone dealers.

A Nokia spokesperson said that the part referred to in its statement released yesterday, and any references to display components contained within it, only apply to the 8210. However, leaving itself with an avenue to reverse its position, the spokesman said that the company would advise if that changed.

Last year, Adrian Morgan, spokesman for independent mobile phone repairer Phone Medic, alleged that the rubber connector sandwiched between the phone's LCD and its circuit board is at the root of the problem. According to Morgan, Nokia no longer use the part, but prior to its replacement it was installed in the company's 3210, 5110, 6110 and 8850 mobile handsets.

Morgan's position is backed by anecdotal evidence from a Belgian supervising project officer for International Consumer Research and Testing (ICRT) Mobile Phone, an umbrella organisation for a large number of European consumer interest groups.

"I can tell you that we regularly get complaints about the quality of the displays for several Nokia models, this seems to be a quite common problem for Nokia models," said the officer.

The Department of Fair Trading said it would release a statement regarding its investigation into the phone furore soon.