For this perfidy of refusing to extend the replacement to non-USA owners...
There should be a manufacturer or a bunch of PC and other hardware manufacturers who bust any patent on the magnetic power cord.
Waterboilers, coffeepots, and other electrical devices have had them for YEARS. It should not matter that Applie applied the technology to laptops. The fact that they may have special filters and wiring patterns and braiding also should not be patentable. Clothing irons and just about any heavy, fragile, or fire-start-capable electrical appliances have specially-braided wiring, too. The fact that a laptops requires very clean and stable signals and power is a fact of physics/electrical/electronics life, not something that Apple magically discovered through brute application of research. It's smart, yes, and maybe even fashionable, too. But, it is not something that only ONE computer maker should enjoy.
Such a cord would once and for all nix the stupid 2-inch-orso lugs that stick out of HP laptops. I dinged and smacked mine enough times that I think my last-year's $700 Pavillion may not have much of a power connect point in another year or so. So, deep, intense infuration that EVERY HP model I've looked at for the past 3 years seems to have that stupid lenght of extension out of the case (like several other mfrs of laptops) was one of the 3 primary reasons that this year my next laptop was most decidedly NOT an HP. It became another Gateway, a company I *SWORE* I'd never return to for a laptop. Several other brands (HP, Sony, Toshiba, Dell, and a few others) were also nixed off my list for that. I found in Gateway the L-shaped plug I needed.
Whether on a train, plane, bus or at my desk, the damned thing on the HP and other laptops can come too many times to being bumped or the wire end excessively bent. It's almost as if most of them want damage to happen to justify their ability to sell more units. However, i suppose some electrical wizard will say electrical properties demand a straight-out pin in the case (situation) of laptops.