"I thought some 595+ orders sort of negates that statement?"
595 historical orders, you could start a new thread on the impact this will have on Boeing's sales, suffice to say that Airbus (shrewdly) taking the initiative on reverting to NiCd puts Boeing between a rock and hard place.
To be fair, if Airbus hadn't had the A380 delivery issues and then the AF447, the A350 might be in a similar situation. However, Airbus have scored with this one albeit an own goal by Boeing.