Eminently fair.

If my experience with the Mk. 1 version of the iPhone is any guide, the like technology in the iPad will prove reliable, with the most likely cause of failure being the battery. In that light, Apple’s announcement regarding battery replacement seems eminently fair:

While you have to back everything up before taking it in, you get a new or refurbished iPad for some $110 or so. It’s a win-win. Apple fixes your original and resells it in the refurb store at 10-15% less than a new one with a full warranty. You get a new device with two more years – or whatever it is – of battery life far faster than if you had to wait for your original to be repaired. Apple probably earns less on the resale than on the sale of a new one (they have to ship it back to China and then back to the online store as well as pay for repair parts) but this does suggest they are confident in the longevity of the other components in the device. After all, absent a couple of small switches, there are no moving parts in the iPad. So for your money you get a new device. There’s no indication of what the policy will be with regard to obsolescence. After all, in two years Mk. 1 iPad will almost certainly be obsolete, but this is great support from a company with whose hardware I have had generally very poor experiences.