The failure happened to one of my MBPs after three years of the original date of purchase. It could as well have happened 5 years after the date of purchase. Is Apple planning to extend the replacement program for such cases? I think there are plenty of users who will be affected by that.
Many of the affected machines are already past their four-year deadlines, and so far Apple hasn't extended the repair program for them. Draw your own conclusion about the likelihood of a last-minute change of heart.
So far, Apple has stuck to the four-year cutoff as if it were set in stone. Thus, I'd give the odds to an extension as slim to none. They've even gone to court over this in one case I'm aware of(Apple lost that case).
My broken MB passed the four-year deadline, but as I read at the end of the article:
"Apple will continue to evaluate the repair data and will provide further repair extensions as needed."
I hope they will!
Repair Extension
