Apple's claim that unlocking could damage the iPhone was a lie, suit charges. There's a new iPhone lawsuit seeks billions in damages. http://tinyurl.com/2zyycf

Plus now we find out that independent testing shows the Apple iPhone Contains 'Hazardous' Chemicals.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202402995

Why El Reg has somehow missed reporting these story is anyone's guess.

Seems obvious why the Reg missed the boat on the Apple thing. They're actually all secret Apple/Jobs fanbois, who only post negative things about Apple because they love it. So they don't want to get too negative.

coat. door. arse. right.

They push the "free" MSN, extended warranty, service contracts, and any other add-ons incredibly hard. Much harder than any other box chain.

If I'm not in a hurry, I make the salesman go through the spiel to waste his time and see the disappointed look flicker across his face when I say no. If I'm in a hurry, I usually have to be extremely rude to get him to STFU, because they just won't take "no" for an answer.

I really hope they get hit with treble damages as they deserve it, and I REALLY hope they have to pay real money and not weasel out with free copies of Windows or something.

If people give me Best Buy gift cards, I just hand them back and tell them they wasted their money. The last 6 times I went in there looking for something, they didn't have it, and I'm talking common things like a hard drive or a USB cable. Screw 'em.

Not if i have read the article properly. the circumstances are ever so subtly different... Best Buy allowed MS the use of this guys credit card WITHOUT his knowledge whereas Apple has made it plain you have to sign up to AT&T for a start. For a second most most of your post has absolutely nothing to do with the subject line. However, I would caution that probably every phone ever designed contains "Hazardous Chemicals". So although the El Reg boys got caught napping, i view this as a bit of a non story myself.

Na. After the bad press they were having, Apple have probably just entered the El Reg preference scheme. Give it a little while and we will be seeing articles titled "Apple make the greatest products ever - even kitchen appliances, which the dont make. They are that good." and "Job's elevated to level of Demi God, How could this travesty happen. He’s better than that."

Being one of those wierd freaks who actually works in Hi Tech manufacturing, much as I hate the iPhone, the fact that it contains PVC and brominated flame retardents is what we refer to as "a complete non-story". Lots of things contain brominated flame retardents - RoHS (EU) only applies to PBDE and PBB and THEN only at concentrations in excess of 1000ppm

They abide by the EU's RoHS regulations (so they can sell in the EU) and they probably score fairly high on China's RoHS regs. Try slamming Apple for being mindless fluff technology, not for some meaningless statement from an organisation who is known to use lousy science, zero figures and lots of marketting hype to make their non-existant point. Contains??? How much is "contains"? 50%? 1ppm?

""RICO was designed to deter organized crime, not to be used as a tool to force legitimate companies to pay treble damages,” wrote Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the National Chamber Litigation Center. "Courts should prevent RICO from being turned into the litigation equivalent of a thermonuclear device.""

Surely a legitimate company is one that conducts its business legitmately, i.e. lawfully. If it is acting unlawfully, it's not a legitimate business.

Where's the Diana Ross angle ?