Apple cherry-picks concessions

Apple has been forced into a grudging lawsuit settlement in the US over the longevity of the iPod battery - but Irish owners can forget about the deal being extended to this side of the pond.

After being hit with a fusillade of class-action suits claiming the juice runs out far quicker when iPods begin to age, Apple agreed last week to extend warranties and offer discount vouchers to any dissatisfied customers – in the US only.

So Log On inquired of Apple Ireland whether the same fair treatment would apply here – as many of us owners of early iPods have discovered similar problems. For good measure, we also asked whether the local arm would begin to accept iPods for recycling – with a small voucher in return – as its American counterpart is also doing.

The response from country manager Liam Donohoe was terse: “These are US-only implementations. Any customer who has concerns about the functionality of their iPod should contact Apple Care.”

In other words, “we’ve conceded the iPod battery life was overstated in the US but the rest of the world can go flagellate themselves”.