Matsushita will cover battery replacement costs

After the big hubub of Nokia's battery replacement program, pundits wondered whether Matsushita would have to pay Nokia for the replacement of the 46 million (potentially) affected phone batteries. Today, Nokia has announced that Matsushita will pay for all direct costs related to the product advisory, which promised to replace BL5C phone batteries in Nokia phones that are prone to overheating and expanding. An analyst estimated the replacement program could cost Matsushita some $1.2 billion, which is about 28 percent of the company's operating profit forecast for 2008.

"Matsushita Battery has agreed to cover the direct costs associated with the product advisory," said Masatsugu Kondo, president of Matsushita Battery, "including, among other things, logistics costs, call center costs, and replacement battery costs."

For more on the arrangement:
- read this press release