My power button is about 10% useful now...it rarely works properly and you have to mash it in a specific spot on the left hand side of the button to get it to actually function. I'm a loyal Apple/iPhone fan, but i cannot agree with your statement...this is the first iPhone that i have had an issue with either button (power or home), which tells me that something is different (especially since it seems to have become a pretty wide spread report to Apple...looking at their forums and all). And while I'm sure it's still very isolated as far as total numbers go, I'm taking mine back this weekend to get a replacement (which saddens me since i will, in all likelihood, lose my ability to jailbreak for the time being).
Also, to give some info on the steps i took...hard restarts didn't work, restoring from backup didn't work and blowing it out with compressed air didn't work. The pressure button under the physical metal button does not feel the same as it did when the phone was new, it actually feels like it has a non-responsive part without the distinctive "click" feel it should have. Not sure if anyone else has noticed that.