Battery recall sends Sony's reputation up in flames

2006 will probably go down as the worst year for PR in Sony's history. There was the Sony Music rootkit scandal, the botched PS3 launch and the pièce de résistance, the exploding battery fiasco. Sony's battery recall was the largest recall in consumer electronics history and considering that it affected virtually every major laptop manufacturer, it was unavoidable if you work in IT. And things just kept getting worse as time went on: more manufacturers joined the recall, it was revealed that Sony had known about the flaw for some time but decided against informing consumers and finally, Sony had to cave in and issue a recall for its own Vaio laptops. However, some good may come out of the battery saga yet; it looks like 2007 will see a renewed focus on battery safety and increased interest in alternative power technologies.