Yeah, that's sort of old news. This was post 2 - 3 weeks ago here. That email is more like the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Sony is a VERY large corporation and company reps may not know of other divisions and what they are doing. You won't find our Sony batteries listed with the consumer Sony batteries.
It's true that the Sony's that we use were not meant for the general consumer market. They were meant for OEM's. Only for use in large battery packs with their own safety circuitry.
There's a video on YouTube of a discussion where reps from Illumination Supply spoke at length with a high ranking Sony rep who admitted that the batteries are still being produced, but the production facility was forced to shut down because of the nuclear power plant accident in Japan last year. A new facility was constructed in the Philapines and is just now getting up to speed.
