Iria

Problems with the iPod nano may embarrass Apple, but at least users get defective hardware replaced. Technology analyst Bill Thompson thinks it is time for software vendors to accept their liability.

Like many who gazed longingly at the iPod nanos on display in the shop window at my local electronics store I felt a degree of schadenfreude when news started coming in of cracked screens and scratched displays.

Apple says there was a manufacturing fault with some LCDs, and will be replacing nanos with defective screens, although it does not yet accept that the tiny players scratch too easily.

Doing so would land it with a massive bill for replacing or repairing them all - and it would have no choice because the iPod is a physical object.

If goods aren't of satisfactory quality then purchasers have pretty clear legal rights, and in the UK the Office of Fair Trading and local trading standards offices will ensure that they are upheld.

Sadly, the same sorts of protection don't hold for software.
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Read More / Source: BBC News