I'm not question your intentions, abill_uk.
I know that you can be a really nice guy, if you want to.
But I'm not seeing the connection between a hardware fault on one device, and the release of another, new device.
Since your fix seems to be so easy (by the way I never had any problems with my N900, no reboot loops, no slowdons, no stuck/dead pixels, no dead mic, no weared off keyboard, no loose USB port (despite connecting it several times a day)) why Nokia would have to design entire new hardware?
The N9 is not intended as a replacement but as a successor.
Was the N95-8GB a replacement of the N95?
No!
And there is a much greater difference between N900 and N9.