“Kindle Killer” Not Quite Ready for Prime Time? Apple iPad Heading for Court

Apple is facing a class action suit from consumers who feel Apple’s claim that “reading on the iPad is just like reading a book,” is untrue. From MarketWatch:

The suit alleges that the iPad, launched in April of this year, shuts down from overheating under normal operating conditions, even far below Apple's advertised temperature limits, making the product virtually unusable for many of its advertised functions.

“The iPad was touted as a revolutionary invention -- a product that Apple claimed could be used inside or outside and for purposes such as playing games and reading e-books,” claim the attorneys at Scott Cole & Associates, the law firm that filed the action. “Books and board games don’t close up after a few minutes of use and require you to stick them in a refrigerator to cool off.”

Issues of not-quite-bookishness might explain, at least in part, why Kindle enthusiasts are so keen to hang onto their dedicated reading device. The Kindle, after all and despite its flaws, has always performed pretty much like a book. From e-reads:

How has Amazon endured against the attacking swarm of competitors and corporate adversaries? Among the many reasons are that it’s an elegant product with superb functionality, it’s backed by first-rate service, its library is all but infinite, its name has become as branded as Band-Aid or Frigidaire, its list price has remained competitive, and, like a wasp laying eggs in its living victims, Amazon has embedded its kindle apps in the bowels of its rivals.

Meanwhile, with Amazon’s profits showing a 45 per cent increase over last year and Random House chief executive quoted as saying that the house expects electronic book sales to account for over 10 per cent of their gross revenue by 2011 and as much as 50 per cent by 2015, one thing is certain: while the battle for best e-book reader will continue into the foreseeable future, that future will certainly contain electronic books.