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Aug. 29, 2009

France's top trade official said he met yesterday with the financial director of Apple France to discuss several recent complaints by certain iPhone users that their phone screens either cracked or exploded.

Hervé Novelli, secretary of state for trade and consumer affairs, said in a statement he will question Apple's Michel Coulombe about the causes of the explosions or cracking of these devices and eventual measures they could take.

Apple's chief European spokesman, Alain Hely said "we take customer safety reports very seriously. We are well aware of a small number of recent safety reports regarding iPhones and we are investigating them thoughroughly."

Specifically, Apple is also looking into a few number of cases of battery overheating in iPhones and has also analyzed cases of cracked screens, but "in all cases the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the handset," Hely said.

Novelli said he would remind Apple of general security obligations of companies whose products are on the French market, without elaborating any further.

The French media have reported numerous cases of iPhone screens cracking or phones exploding and reportedly from many types of iPhone users. The first case that caught attention was in early July, when an iPhone explosion reportedly sent glass into the eye of an 18-year-old.

Frank Benoiton said the screen of his wife's iPhone cracked without warning on August 19. Benoiton said "it was not dropped and experienced no unusual shock."

Benoiton went to Orange France, the phone company where he bought the phone, to try and get it fixed. He said Orange told him they could not help him because it was caused by the phone user and to contact Apple. He said Apple France, too, said it was a result of user error.

Benoiton insisted he and his wife were not at fault.

The European Commission said Aug. 21 that it spoke to Apple about reports in different EU countries of problems with iPhone handsets and that the company is investigating.

We will keep you posted on these and on other developments as they happen.

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Source: France Trade Ministry.