If I were in QA at Apple, I'd almost certainly ask that they put that disclaimer in, even if I thought it was a cool feature. At a minimum Apple is setting expectations, which is totally appropriate in a consumer product market.

As a Mac and Pre owner I certainly hope they don't muck it up, but I'm not sure they'd go out of their way to do so. I do believe that the hardware business for iPods, and perhaps more importantly, iPhones is such a large part of their revenue stream (vs the Store) that they're looking seriously at this situation in any event.

S.Chasm: I'm sure those results may be noble (other than to people whose pension funds were invested in the companies whose costs had to increase as a result of them).

Unfortunately, the ends didn't even justify the means in the old Soviet Union. I would certainly hope they wouldn't be expected to do so for people pursuing "social justice."

exNewt: Thank you! I am continually appalled at how people are misinformed about basic principles of risk, dose and body burden. I am rapidly appproaching the point where I believe that Paracelsus should be required reading in school.

P.S. I just dug out my treasured can of Freon TF to fix a contaminated SuperDrive in my wife's 17" PowerBook without a shred of remorse. There is still no product that does the job of that stuff with similarly low toxicity. (I must love her - I can't imagine what the street value of a can is these days.)

I'd use it as yet another device to evaluate as a preferred carry-around-the-house TV watching rig.

Looks like Sprint hopped on the bandwagon today:

http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1074436&highlight=