Apple is facing a quality crisis with its newly announced iPod Nano, according to reports from unhappy customers complaining about defective displays.

Disgruntled Nano owner Mathew Peterson has even set up a specific website flawedmusicplayer.com to deal with the problem, after initially being accused by his retailer of having damaged it himself, “I know I never hit anything, as everyone, including Apple Store employees have accused me of doing” says Peterson on his website, later adding “It makes me sad to see Apple turn into Dell.” The 2GB/4GB iPod Nano was heralded as a “revolutionary new design” from Apple at the beginning of September. However, owners are flocking to complain about quality problems, with the website receiving 30 emails an hour from anxious customers.

One customer complained that his new purchase lasted two hours before developing some very nasty scratches on the screen, enough to obscure the image. Another younger purchaser complained “I bought a black 4G iPod Nano the week it came out. I brought it to school in my pocket without damaging it or sitting on it. Then when I came home the nano was scratched up, including the screen. I called Apple about getting a replacement and they said, Scratches happen. It’s your fault.” Reports of unsympathetic responses from Apple are starting to flood the website.

Reading through the site, one gets the feeling that iPod owners sometimes seem a bit more preoccupied with the fashion status of the popular device than with its functionality. For that matter, Apple appear to be more preoccupied in attracting revenue than keeping customers happy.

Self-confessed Apple addict Peterson states “Just because Apple has placated me with a new Nano doesn’t mean that I am washing my hands of this. I intend to finish what I started.” We wish him well.

(Edit: The original site put up in protest by Mathew Peterson has now mysteriously vanished to be replaced by an Apple error page. Apple now admit the problems with the iPod Nano, but claim that they account for less than 0.01% of their sales. Conveniently for Apple, without the feedback from customers provided by Peterson’s website, we can only speculate whether this figure is anywhere near the true figure.)
Via www.slyck.com