Ooof just made it into Seattle... So tired but have more info.
The sled/battery pack is the part that started smoking however the entire phone plus sled system was provided by Apple. Apple did an immediate recall today as soon as the incident was reported. I had only seen the system once on my outbound AS flight earlier this week so I can't be sure but I suspect the system might be similar/the same as the setup used by employees at Apple stores to do POS around the stores. Alaska has reverted to the old POS system.
On our flight we did indeed get free drinks and food for all pax.
AS sent two reps from Seattle to BUF on the rescue flight. One was a regular agent or similar but one was actually a ground services manager (not sure of official title). Since AS didn't have any presence in BUF my understanding is that that guy essentially served to do all the safety checks on the plane, check catering loading, verify fuel "white bucket test" since it was from an unknown source, etc.
Also turns out there's a possibility I might get miles from both the original and rescue flight according to gossip from the AS folks! Depends on how the computer system resolved things.
And when I landed I had my $500 flight waiting for me.
Now waiting for husband to pick me up so I can get home to crash.