Great photos... but now the lens won't retract

I bought the camera about 6 months ago and loved it. It takes beautiful photos, fits in my pocket, turns on quickly, and I like the menu system. I haven't had any of the focus problems people are describing.

A few weeks ago black spots started showing up in my photos when I'd zoom in. Cleaning the lens did nothing. A couple of days ago the lens started making noise when it retracted and then finally got stuck in the extended position.

After talking to my friend who'd recommended the camera to me, I found out that he'd had the exact same problem (black spots then the lens stuck).
Looking at the reviews for the P200 (
http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/sony-cybershot-dscp200-reviews.html ), a similar model, and I see the same problem. I hope Sony will just acknowledge it's a problem with their cameras and warntee it.