Tech Goes Boom

Walt Weighs in on the Scratchy Nano

Despite Apple's steadfast denial of the nano's susceptibility to scratches, everyone who owns one is squawking. Clue to Phil Schiller: It's an issue.

Uncle Walt is keeping it real this week and calling Apple to task. He puts it about as succinctly as possible:

I have never tested or owned any portable electronic device that picked up as many scratches as quickly as the iPod nano.

Werd.

Walt thinks Apple should include a case with each nano and research a tougher plastic for future use. As has been pointed out before, this isn't rocket science. Cell phone manufacturers figured out the right plastics years ago. I haven't had a scratch on the screen of any cell phone I've owned for at least 5 years.

Apple claims the nano is no more susceptible to scratches than previous iPods. I say, who cares? The previous iPods collected scratches far more than they should have as well. Previous ipods should not be the golden standard here. Cellphones should be.

I suspect that Apple is probably already investigating using different plastics, and will silently roll a revised nano into the supply chain once they've got it hammered out. If they were to publicly admit an issue, it would mean a whole lot of exchanges they don't want to do. From a business perspective, I understand the stance they're taking, but as a customer, I along with pretty much every other nano owner can plainly see the emperor has no clothes.

Currently my nano lives in a ziplock bag while I await my $10 silicon nano case from Hong Kong.