I understand what they did in a fundamental sense and it appears to be a practical solution at face value. They can detect when a battery is getting aged (electrically soft) and the software revision forces the processor to slow down to prevent the phone from crashing.
Where I would fault Apple is in not clearly notifying customers as to exactly what their updates do, and what options are available to users (such as battery replacement). I'm not an Apple user (and never will be) but from what I've seen in friend's phones, the upgrades just start installing with no more than a simple yes/no window without any technical explanation.
My experiences with Apple customer service (helping friends) has not been good and their web site sucks. They assume everyone has an Apple-brain, LOL.
Maybe the law suits will get their attention and force them to be more informative and straightforward with customers. 
Edit history
= new reply since forum marked as read
