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iPad class action lawsuit heats up

I guess when you're the big guy in town, everybody paints a target on your back. First, Apple and AT&T were sued for the data plan change on the iPad, and now another class action lawsuit about the iPad is underway in California, claiming that the tablet overheats way too quickly when held or placed in warm sunlight. The lawsuit alleges that the iPad "does not live up to the reasonable consumer's expectations created by Apple," and that it "turns off, sometimes after just a few minutes of use," when used in bright sunlight.

The suit, filed in Oakland, seeks "unspecified damages," and as far as I can tell, it's still in the earliest preliminary stages. All of Apple's devices tend to overheat to a certain extent when used to their full potential, and anyone who's left an iPhone or an iPod in a hot car knows that there's a limit on what these things can take. But at the same time, even when I've had my iPhone overheat on me, it usually just takes a few minutes of sleep or standby to bring it back to normal -- hardly an inconvenience worth suing over. We'll have to wait and see what happens with this one.