[sfhub]

And now that I think about it even more, designing the Pre battery with the same form factor as the Centro battery and thus allowing the Centro battery to fit, all the while knowing it could burn out your Pre would open up Palm to liability lawsuits if a fire started or someone got hurt. Remember the Sony LiIon batteries that were lighting up?

What would be Palm's defense? We knew the thing could be a fire hazard and we could have easily prevented it by changing the size of a plastic corner peg but we were too lazy to do so? We also have the ability to detect the wrong battery, that might burn things out and possibly hurt the user, but choose not to tell the user? However we invested time developing tools to detect the wrong battery after the phone is burnt out so we can minimize warranty costs? Sounds like money in the bank to me... for the victim.

Usually the problem in these type of lawsuits is proving the manufacturer knew to get the big damages. In this case, though, folks are saying Palm *and* Sprint both know about it, but are choosing to disseminate the information through word of mouth?