"Apple IS a battery maker" at best they are developers. They definitely don't make them.
And those flat Batterycells are nothing new. In all the new Batteries for cars like the Tesla Roadster, Toyota Prius they all have this flat kind of cells. The only thing apple achieved is putting a Notebook style Akkupack together. Dell's own stupidiy that they didn't ask for some similar Battery earlier. The industry has the technology for quite some time now.

If you look closely a standard cylindric battery is not much more that a rolled up flat one. Cylindric they are just more resistent and have a higher energy densitiy (if you don't count the spare place aroung muliple cylinders).

SKYTHRA I'd agree with you if you we're right, but you are just wrong.

Apple is pretty proud of their battery development, so much so that they created a video about it: http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

Some choice quotes from it:
"We've designed a battery..."
"In the case of Apple, we have scientists, chemists, engineers that are dedicated to battery development"

Apple does not make batteries, much like sony does not make its memory cards. They stick to what they know - design and operating system. Much like the processor ram and video card will not be made by apple, they did not make the battery. Nor did they make the plastic. Nor did they make the LCD screen.

What apple does is design and distribute.

so mr. "The biggest problem facing a replacement battery maker is whether or not they can make a BETTER battery than Apple can." - Apple didn't make a battery. And if they did, they wouldn't be able to do it better then the much further researched current battery makers. They'd have to buy the patent and then improve it. Thats billions of dollars there in an industry they dont want to persue.

I am suprised that the Apple toy maker didn't make the battery easily replaceable.

This would give them another opportunity to fleece their customers for another overpriced proprietary widget.

But...I really fancy an ipod touch, just can't bring myself to use craptunes though... and it doesn't have bluetooth audio streaming, and its twice the price of everything else, and you can't take music off of it that you put on, and you have to use crap tunes, and your can't change the battery.

But it looks jolly nice...

Apple announced today that it has developed a breast
implant that can store and play music. The iTit will cost
from $499 to $699, depending on cup and speaker size. This
is considered a major social breakthrough, because women are
always complaining about men staring at their breasts... and
not listening to them

More like Foxconn and 30 other tech sub-contractors.

The guys at Apple wouldnt know the difference between a Molex and a muppet.

Hmm though maybe they do know a muppet when they see one?

I thought they just contracted Foxconn to assemble everything for them using sweatshop slav.....errr..."a cost effective chinese workforce"

Apple makes their own batteries? When do they find the time after making their own... umm... what do they actually make (not assemble)?

The biggest problem facing a replacement battery maker is whether or not they can make a BETTER battery than Apple can.

Apple packed a huge amount of energy into the smallest amount of space they can using innovative battery making techniques.

Are these techniques patented?

If so, replacers will have difficulty in duplicating the power density of the latest Macbook Pro batteries.

In this case, this would be a huge turn off. Purchasing a 3rd party battery with less power than the manufacturer's battery is a HUGE turnoff.