Some iPhone users in Asia complained of  malfunctioning alarms on the first working day of 2011, even after Apple reassured users that its phones' built-in clocks will work from Monday.

Bloggers, Facebook and Twitter users complained about of missed flights  and late arrival at work, as the alarm built into Apple's iPhone failed to go  off for a third straight day for some users.

"My iPhone alarm didn't work again," user sueannlove tweeted on the social  networking site. "Time to dig out (the) old school alarm clock."     

The problem was not limited to the iPhone, with some owners of other Apple  products, such as its iPod music players, also complaining of a similar  problem with their alarms.

Apple was not immediately available for comment, but it said on January 2  that it was aware of the problem with non-recurring alarms and that the  iPhone's alarm will begin functioning normally again on January 3.

The problem did not appear to be affecting recurring alarms. The iPhone alarm system failed to recognise changes in daylight savings  time in 2010, causing some users to sleep in an hour longer, according to  media reports.

The last time Apple was embroiled in publicity problems was in July last  year after the launch of the iPhone 4, when reports about bad reception  snowballed and forced the company to call a news conference to address the  issue, dubbed "antennagate".     

Apple sold over 14 million iPhones in its last reporting quarter ending  Sept. 25, and is now the world's No. 2 smartphone brand ranking behind global  leader Nokia. - Reuters