Compare Kyocera's Exploding Phone Reaction To Nokia's
from the stop-shipping dept
A quick follow up on the story from earlier today about Nokia's exploding phone. Even if it wasn't Nokia's fault, I felt they should have taken more responsibility for the trouble the exploding phones have caused their customers. At the very least they should have made it clear this is a problem they'll investigate, rather than just saying "it ain't us!" For comparison purposes, take a look at Kyocera's reaction. On Tuesday, one of their phones exploded and today they responded by saying they will stop shipping phones until they're absolutely positive what happened. They say they're running a "round the clock" investigation and won't comment on the cause until they know for sure. That makes me a lot more comfortable than Nokia's "we haven't seen the details, but it couldn't possibly be our fault" response. Some are now suggesting that the problem may actually be caused by spare change or keys coming into contact with the phones, causing them to heat up and explode.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
The J&J reaction to poisoned Tylenol bottles is a classic example of a tactically painful but strategically superb response. Shipments of Tylenol really were stopped and products recalled at significant expense.
By taking some responsibility for improving the situation instead of just blaming the poisoner, J&J was praised by all. When tatamper-resistant features to the packaging, this was then perceived as being done in the customer interest, and not as a hedge against future liability.
The lesson Nokia needs to remember from this is that the ultimate perception of any outcome in the exploding phone situation will be greatly affected by the up-front attitude expressed right now.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
So true...
I remember taking one of the required college classes in business ethics. Why it was required for me to take this as a computer scientist is beyond me, but it was an eye-opening experience to say the least. But anyway, the teacher had broken us up into groups previously, and informed us that each group was the PR department of a major drug company, and as such we had to deal with various ethical issues cropping up in the company. I had already heard of the Tylenol case, but apparently no one else in the class had (not reading "Risks", I guess.)
Anyway, the teacher posed the class a problem, similar to the actual case in the fact that someone had been tampering with the medicine we were selling, and we were to decide as a company how we should handle it (and how we'd deal with the consequences.) I managed to persuade my group to do the right thing (which wasn't really all that difficult, as they were all really thinking the same way.)
After discussing the issue, we came up with the solution that we'd recall all of the bottles on the shelf, redesign them (in our case, glass bottles were far more tamper resistant than plastic,) and then suffer the consequences, potentially being fired for wasting so much money.
This was rare in the class, though, as most of the students came up with elaborate plans to discredit the news sources, cover up the situation, and continue on with their lives. When it came time to give our orals on our process, we were actually ridiculed (in a business ethics class,) for doing the right thing. I sat in disgust listening to the elaborate cover-up plans, and considered dropping out of the class (the teacher was the most vocal on the ridicule.) I really didn't care, as my values were intact, and I really didn't care to do the wrong thing just to make my fellow businessmen like me (my skills and my actions make me, not what some other person may think about me.)
When we talked to the teacher after the class, she said she ridiculed us because as she saw it, we'd be ridiculed by our fellow businessmen for making the same decisions in real life, but ultimately the customer would appreciate our efforts.
I stuck through with the class, and had many an argument with the teacher, however, I received an "A" on the assignment (as did the rest of my group,) and passed the class with an "A" as well. None of the other teams received "A's" for this assignment, so I guess it does pay off in the long run to be honest with your customers.
But I wonder how many business majors take this class and think that the wrong way is the better way after being ridiculed for doing the right thing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
> me to take this as a computer scientist is beyond
> me, but it was an eye-opening experience to say the
> least
Which is why you had to take it!!!! Doh!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Honesty want hurt
[ link to this | view in chronology ]