In light of this, I read this yesterday: Apple and Dell and others are holding a meeting next month to create standards for the manufacture of lithium ion batteries for portable and handheld electronics.
Also Apple also just paid a settlement to Creative for $100 Million in the patent lawsuit too over the iPod's UI. I think Apple got a bargain on that though myself...
That whole UI thing for the iPod just seems ridiculous, as 3/4 of the people who think the issue is worth two shits put Linux on their respective player...
As for the stocking issue, perhaps these two issues will solve each other?