Apple Computer said Thursday that it was recalling more than 1 million Sony batteries, barely a week after Dell recalled an estimated 4.1 million batteries made by the Japanese firm due to fears that they could burst into flames.
The Japanese electronics giant said in a statement that it expected to incur costs of 20 billion to 30 billion yen ($171 million to $257 million) from supporting the recalls but that it did not expect any other customers to be affected.
"We supplied the same types of batteries to other companies, but because of differences in computer systems, we don't think similar problems will occur with other computers," a company spokesman said.
The price of Sony shares, which had tumbled in the days after Dell announced the first recall, lost a further 100 yen or 2 percent to 5,000 Friday.
However, analysts said that the negative impact on Sony's image from the recall should be limited as none of the company's own computers, televisions, or videogame consoles were affected.
"This is about a defect of parts for computers and not a defect of Sony's consumer products so I would say the effects will be limited," said Kazumasa Kubota, a consumer electronics analyst at Okasan Securities.
"Sony's brand image will remain mostly intact as ordinary consumers don't usually know the brand of computer batteries.
"Battery customers or PC makers might reduce orders placed with Sony, but the loss from this would probably be only a few billion yen," he said.
Sony has said that the problems of overheating and fires did not stem from a problem with the original design of the batteries but were tied to a number of factors linked to the integration and configuration with the computers.
Japan's industry ministry ordered Sony and Dell Thursday to investigate reports of at least two instances in Japan since October last year where of laptop batteries made by the Japanese company had overheated and caught fire.
Apple has received nine reports of batteries overheating, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
Sony has returned to profit under a painful restructuring plan including 10,000 job cuts under foreign boss Howard Stringer.
Investors are also nervous about sales prospects for Sony's next-generation PlayStation 3 (PS3), one of its core products.
Sony was forced to delay the launch of the PS3 by about six months until November, giving archrival Microsoft a one-year head start with the Xbox 360.
Mitsubishi UFJ Securities analyst Masahiko Ishino spooked investors earlier this week when he warned in a report that global shipments of PS3 consoles may reach only half of Sony's projections due to shortages of key components.
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
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