This article is more than 15 years old

This article is more than 15 years old

Apple today admitted that its new iPod Nano was subject to battery failure and scratched screens.

The electronics giant confirmed reports that the critically-acclaimed music player suffered from "unexpected failures" in its colour screen, and has offered a free replacement to all customers affected by faulty Nanos.

Apple refused to admit any problems with the small and sleek units after they were launched earlier this month, but an increasing number of complaints about the LCD screens forced today's climbdown.

One disgruntled Nano owner, Matthew Peterson, was so frustrated with the problems that he set up the website flawedmusicplayer.com, on which he invited other Nano owners to share their experiences and posted pictures of cracked screens.

The Nano has proved so popular that the high street retailer Dixons is reportedly selling five every minute.

However, an investigation by BBC's Watchdog programme revealed that customers were not being told that the rechargeable batteries used in most of the portable music players had a limited life span.

Last night, Apple acknowledged there was a problem with one particular shipment of Nanos, offering customers either a full refund or a replacement.

However, the company has not disclosed how many of the units have been affected, saying it was only "a tiny fraction" of the amount already sold.

"The iPod Nano screen-cracking problem is a real but minor issue involving a vendor quality problem in a small number of units," Phil Schiller, an Apple spokesman, said. "It has affected less than one tenth of 1% of the total iPod Nano units we have shipped so far."

Apple says any customer with a defective screen should contact AppleCare and it will be replaced free of charge. The cost of replacing faulty units normally falls to the retailer.

Mr Schiller said the Nano screen was made of the same material as Apple's white fourth generation iPod, which had attracted no complaints about scratching.

"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 this morning posted a response to Apple's admission on his site. "I am very delighted to see Apple take this issue seriously," he said. "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. Thank you, Apple."

The Nano resembles the iPod Shuffle, the small music player released earlier this year, but has a screen, weighs just 42g and comes in two different capacities.

The cheapest unit, which costs £140, can store up to 500 songs. The next model costs £180 and stores 1,000 songs or 25,000 photographs.

Steve Jobs, the head of Apple, launched the Nano during a press conference at the beginning of the month when he pulled a unit out of his pocket and said: "It's impossibly small."