In its statement, Sony says that any user suspecting problems with their laptop can contact a service center, where they will carry out free repair of Sony laptops.
Of the damaged laptops, 67 thousand were sold in Sony's home Japanese market, the remaining 373 thousand worldwide. Sony's Russian office does not disclose how many faulty laptops were sold in Russia. However, a technical support operator of the company told a Gazeta.Ru correspondent that over the past two days there have been quite a lot of inquiries about this.
According to estimates by analyst Vladislav Kochetkov of Finam Investment Company, about 3-5 thousand Vaio TZ were sold in Russia. 'In Russia, the most popular laptops are in the 25-40 thousand price segment, so demand for Vaio TZ is low, as their price starts from 65 thousand rubles,' the expert said. According to his calculations, the damage from the laptop recall will be about $400 million.
This is not the first time Sony has had to recall its products. In August 2007, the company recalled 416 thousand Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T5 digital cameras, which were sold including in Russia. The problem was a loosely attached bottom cover that could injure the photographer's hand. And in 2006, Sony initiated the industry's largest recall of damaged batteries installed both on its own laptops and on laptops from other manufacturers – Apple, Dell, Hitachi, Lenovo and Toshiba. As a result, the company lost $423 million.