this is my experience with apple:
i have a debilitating medical condition not dissimilar to chronic fatigue. it makes me severely lethargic and has impacted my life greatly. i am currently on disability.
i also have a late 2006 macbook pro which i use logic on. it heats up & shuts down so to prevent that i put a casserole dish of ice under it. hey it works. anyways one night i had extra ice so i threw it in my trash can which has a plastic liner. i never throw liquid in a trash can like that but due to my condition i decided i could do it & deal with it later.
the next night i was in bed & using my iphone when, lying in bed, i set the phone on my book case, at which point it fell. i figured, shit. i'll get it in the morning. well half an hour later i had to use the restroom so at that time i decided to pick up my phone. at which point i found it in the trash can, submerged in water from the ice i threw into it the night before.
i took it to the apple store to see if anything could be done as far as fixing or replacing it. they DO have an exchange program where one may give them their damaged phone and get a replacement for $199. this is a very fair practice to me. i was so happy i didn't have to pay $600 for a brand new one.
so before you guys whine about how 'greedy' apple is (always amuses me how some can consider a company to be greedy as if it is a single sentient being..) at least they have a program like this. microsoft never would.
speaking of, as the guy was helping me, i explained to him how it happened, due to my condition, etc. i also had my disability papers to prove it. i brought them in case there was any negotiable cost (the guy before said cost 'depended' etc. but was mistaken). anyways, at the end of my appointment, when i was to sign off on the exchange, the guy showed me a zero balance. he waived the fees completely and gave me a brand new iphone, free of charge.
this was a very kind and generous act.
also, as one poster cynically says "now they'll take other points into account (presumably including, but not limited to, whether there is any other evidence of liquid damage, how convincing the customer's story is, how good a mood the manager is in that day, how attractive the customer is, how much fuss the customer kicks up, and the proximity of that day's lunch break)."
-i believe it's the other way around. apple has ALWAYS been helpful to me, as i've always been honest and straight with them. before my appointment i heard one of the 'geniuses' tell another customer 'honestly it's not the dumb questions. what bothers me most is when people lie to me straight to my face. it's just insulting.'
so maybe apple uses those sensors as just one more piece of criteria when they know they're being lied to by some jackass who comes in with a phone that was obviously submerged.
another point of generosity is where if one has a broken ipod out of warranty, they can exchange it for 10% off a new one. apple doesn't have to do that, but they do.
i'd save the kdawson-esque anti-corporate outrage for someone who actually deserves it.