Exploding iPods; exploding Liverpudlians

It was, perhaps, tiresome of Apple to put a non-disclosure agreement into a refund for an exploding iPod Touch. Because it ends up with this sort of story, where a Liverpool father is now suing Apple and bringing far more attention to the story than it would have got had they just cut the cheque.

The incident itself sounds well sci-fi:

[His solicitor] said: “On Saturday July 4, he dropped [his daughter's iPod Touch] and when he bent down to pick it up he noticed it was making a hissing noise. He could feel it becoming hotter in his hand and at this point it emitted a clear vapour.

“Mr Stanborough threw it in his back garden and within seconds, he heard a noise similar to a firework going off and saw a 10ft plume of smoke.

Then an army of angry nanobots flew out the earphone socket, intent on turning Liverpool into a grey goo. You can see why Apple would want to hush that up.

What in an iPod would cause such a reaction?