Apple's latest toy, the iPhone 4, which only works when you use it in your right hand, now apparently now catches fire. The broken phone, which has sold in millions despite warnings, has had a list of things go wrong with it. It also switches off when you stick it close to your ear.
However now it seems that if you hook an iPhone 4 to your computer with the Steve Jobs' blessed USB cord the phone can fry and your paws can get burnt.
According to a source inside AT&T, the charring resulted from a faulty USB port and not human error: Apple confirm to AT&T that there appeared to be a defective USB port and not some sort of user error. It has not made any official comment despite the story being covered by Boy Genus
complete with snaps.
The phone bezel was extremely hot and it slightly burned the customers hand. The USB port in the phone was slightly melted and the cord was badly melted.
Apple has a bit of history when it comes to products catching fire. Last year the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch were officially pronounced smoking.
The fanboy argument is that if you make enough electronic devices sooner or later one is going to catch fire. Of course if you make a $180 gadget and charge three times that much it is more likely to catch fire than a gadget made from products which were actually worth it.
Is there anything it can do right?
Nick Farell
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