Hot Potato: BlackBerry Bold Overheating

NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone operator, has halted sales of the high-end BlackBerry Bold smartphone because the device is prone to overheating while the battery is being recharged. Pulling the hot smartphones from the shelf comes just a week after the BlackBerry Bold launched in Japan. The Bold has been available in the U.S. since late last year.

According to a Reuters report, roughly 30 Bold users have complained that the phone's keyboard area heated up during recharging. DoCoMo noted that it has received no reports of users getting injured or burned and no complaints of the smartphones catching fire.

So far, DoCoMo has sold roughly 4,000 units of the high-end BlackBerry since it became available on Feb. 20.

In a statement, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) said the problem appears to be isolated to only those Bolds sold in Japan.

"The issue appears to be specifically limited to the BlackBerry Bold devices sold in Japan since last week and sales of BlackBerry Bold devices in other countries are unaffected by this matter," RIM told Reuters, adding that it is still investigating the root cause of the overheating, and battery problems have been ruled out.

RIM said NTT DoCoMo hopes to renew Japanese sales of the device soon.

The Bold, the first 3G BlackBerry, launched in the U.S. in November after several snags delayed its release. The Bold went through several revisions before its official launch to ensure it operated properly on AT&T's 3G network and to hammer out software issues.