Want a free iPod nano? Apple has them on offer if you are one of the millions of people who bought a first-generation iPod nano between September 2005 and December 2006 – and, crucially, if you can still find it.
Apple has issued its offer on the first-generation iPod nano, the device which pushed the digital music player's sales into the stratosphere at the end of 2005, over fears that the battery could catch fire.
The free replacement offer could cost the company millions of pounds – depending on how many people still have the ageing products in their possession.
The company is offering a replacement scheme for the devices, which will now be between five and six years old. The scheme affects the slimline iPod nano model sold between September 2005, when it was first introduced, and December 2006.
During that period, Apple sold just over 60m iPods in total, according to the company's official figures, although it is not clear how many of those were the nano model. During the same period, the company was also selling its second-generation iPod shuffle and the "classic" iPod with a hard drive. Apple declined to say how many iPod nanos are affected, but added that no other devices are included in the scheme.
Owners of the first-generation iPod nano will be able to get a free replacement model once they have provided their iPod to Apple, either through a store or via a courier.
Apple says the problem "has been traced to a single battery supplier that produced batteries with a manufacturing defect. While the possibility of an incident is rare, the likelihood increases as the battery ages." Owners are recommended to stop using the device and get the free replacement.
The iPod nano's introduction in September 2005 by Steve Jobs saw sales of the company's music player rise sharply. During its first quarter, iPod sales increased from 8.7m in the third quarter of the year to more than 14m, and they never fell below 8m in any succeeding quarter until the second quarter of this year as the category fell out of favour with buyers in favour of the iPhone and iPad.
There have been a number of device recalls over battery issues that Apple and other companies including Sony and Dell have had to make in recent years. Normally the problem has related to laptop batteries: Sony, which provides lithium-ion batteries for a number of manufacturers, issued a recall in 2008 which affected Toshiba, HP and Dell laptops.