Back to the drawing board

8/25/2008 12:39 PM EDT

If they are it is probably because you are one of 0.001 percent first generation iPod Nano users that Apple admits had a battery fault that made their devices overheat.

Apple has said the overheating problem with the lithium-ion battery in its iPod Nano is rare and the low percentage figure occurred between 2005 and 2006.

However, that does not seem to have convinced the Japanese government which has started investigating the possible battery defect in the Nano.

The source of the faulty batteries appears to be a single battery supplier in this instance but the flammability potential of lithium-ion battery technology is becoming a familiar story in the news pages these days.

Millions of laptops have been recalled worldwide by a number of computer suppliers in the last few years. Having to recall millions of products whether they are laptops, music players or smart phones is obviously not good business practice which is why one suspects that the power management design team at Apple and many other consumer electronics groups worldwide are wishing someone would find a worthwhile alternative to lithium-ion batteries. Silver-zinc batteries, which feature a water based chemistry and have the added benefit of being recyclable, may prove a solution in the long-term but it will be several years before they have proven themselves in consumer applications around the globe.

So for the next few years it looks like it is quite simply back to the drawing board to try and work round the problem.

Well that's what design engineers are supposed to do isn't it?