We suspect that the 3.00 and 3.01 PS3 Firmware updates, which contain the BD firmware patch file BDPT_FIRMWARE_PACKAGE_306R.PKG, is the main contributing factor to the failed drives.
The PS3 Devs want to get ahold of some BD drives that have been bricked by the update in order to prove that the PS-SYSTEM 306R Firmware patch in the update is responsible for the damaged drives.