October 12th, 2006
Notebook battery shortage imminent
A report by Bloomberg's Tim Culpan paints a pretty grim picture of notebook battery availability until at least next summer. The culprit? The recall of over 8 million notebook batteries in recent months.
Citing executives from three Taiwanese manufacturers, the report states that customers will find notebook batteries constrained for at least two months with no relief in sight until June 2007, at the earliest. For the report Culpan spoke to managers at Gentle Wayeer Electric Co., ETI Pack Co. and Nexcell Battery Co., which make packs from cells supplied by Tokyo-based Sony and competitors such as Sanyo Electric Co.
Sony, the world's second-largest rechargeable battery cell maker after Sanyo, is replacing lithium-ion packs after computer makers including Dell Inc. found that some burst into flames. A shortage of the batteries, used in electronics ranging from laptops to handheld music players, might dent sales during the year-end shopping season.
If you're a traveling Mac head you may want to pick up an extra battery pack while you still can.
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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