It is sad that it took a website and a lot of publicity before they finally investigated but

It is sad that it took a website and a lot of publicity before they finally investigated but at least future nano users with the same problem I had will not be subjected to the same treatment that I was.”This was a real issue and most people tried to ignore it. Referring to the alleged easy scratching, Mr Schiller said the product was made out of the same material as Apple’s white fourth generation iPod, which had received no complaints.”We have received very few calls from customers reporting this problem – we do not think this is a widespread issue,” he said.”If customers are concerned about scratching, we suggest they use one of the many iPod nano cases to protect their iPod.”Mr Peterson posted a response on his website welcoming Apple’s stance.He wrote: “I am very delighted to see Apple take this issue seriously. It is not a design issue.”He said any iPod nano owners who found their screens were cracked would get their music player replaced free of charge. Phil Schiller, from Apple, said: “This is a real but minor issue involving a vendor quality problem in a small number of units.”This issue has affected less than one tenth of 1 per cent of the total iPod nano units that we’ve shipped. Apple conceded that there had been a problem with the iPod nano but insisted it was not a design flaw. The iPod nano was launched with great fanfare earlier this month, billed as the music system which is thinner than a pencil.
Each iPod nano, on sale for £179, holds up to 1,000 songs or 25,000 photographs.

It was described as an “impossibly small size”, which could fit into the smallest pocket.But complaints about the product grew to such an extent that a website was set up by a disgruntled owner, Matthew Peterson, entitled flawedmusicplayer .He invited other iPod nano owners to air their views and posted pictures of cracked screens on the net. Complaints about the iPod nano surfaced on the internet with owners complaining about cracked screens and surfaces that scratched easily. The technology giant Apple has admitted there was a problem with its latest iPod product, but insisted the numbers affected by the flaw are minimal. The ONS doubled its estimate of growth in household spending and tripled the figure for business investment. Geoffrey Dicks, chief UK economist at Royal Bank of Scotland, said it was “evidence of a recovery”..

He added: “The survey will heighten concern that the slowdown in consumer spending is firmly entrenched.”Yesterday, HMV, the music and books retailer, and House of Fraser, the department store group, became the latest high street names to report a fall in sales before the crucial Christmas period.But some experts said the latest figures contained glimmers of hope. A CBI survey showed the number of retailers reporting a drop in sales outnumbered those enjoying a rise by a record 24 per cent.Howard Archer, UK economist at consultants Global Insight, said the survey was “disturbingly weak”. However, many experts say the downturn is driven by the impact of rising interest rates on debt-laden households fearful of further tax hikes. The number of homeowners in danger of losing their property has risen to its highest level since the tail end of the last housing crash – although the numbers are still small.In Washington, Mr Brown put the blame on oil prices. Manufacturing is in recession after two quarters of decline while unemployment has risen for seven months on the trot – again the first time since the early 1990s. Other analysts said Mr Brown would miss even his latest growth forecast.”It puts it in jeopardy to say the least,” said Nick Stamenkovic, a senior economist at RIA Capital Markets in Edinburgh.Lehman Brothers, one of Wall Street’s blue-chip banks, slashed its growth outlook for this year to 1.6 per cent from 1.8 per cent, and forecast a further slowdown in 2006 to just 1.5 per cent.The drumbeat of poor economic news has picked up in recent weeks.

In previous years, any one of these shocks would have tipped the UK into recession. Instead employment is at a record high and the economy continues to grow every quarter – delivering a record 52 quarters of uninterrupted growth.”The figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the economy had slowed more than first thought at the end of last year and the start of 2005.The pound dropped to a two-month low against the dollar because traders were betting that the Bank of England would cut interest rates to prop up growth. This, yet again, raises the chances that taxes will have to go up to pay for Brown’s excessive borrowing. What this country needs is a chancellor with his mind on the job, not on inheriting the Prime Minister’s crown.”The Treasury defended its record, saying no country could insulate itself from the “ups and downs” of the world economy.A spokesman said: “We are facing the highest sustained oil prices for a quarter of a century, growth in our main export market – the eurozone – has slowed and house prices has slowed to a more sustainable level. Any deterioration in the economy will seriously hamper Mr Brown’s leadership ambitions in the light of Tony Blair’s determination to serve as Prime Minister for three more years.The Conservatives seized on yesterday’s figures, saying they were further proof the Government would have to hike taxes to make up for a shortfall in the Treasury’s coffers.George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor said: “We now know why Gordon Brown was forced into his humiliating climbdown at the IMF.