You’ve probably heard of the Kindle, Amazon’s market-leading handheld electronic book reader (or e-reader), and maybe you’re aware of similar devices from Sony, Samsung and others. But you will have had to have your head in the sand to miss January’s launch of Apple’s iPad. The iPad generated more pre-launch hype than a James Cameron movie (well, almost), being billed by some as an industry-redefining piece of kit – a tablet PC for the masses. And what excited publishers and bookworms alike was that among the features of the device was its potential as a Kindle-beating e-reader.