The business-focused QUE proReader hits a shipping delay

According to paidContent, Plastic Logic's CEO, Richard Archuleta, sent an e-mail out to customers who had pre-ordered the QUE proReader informing them that the QUE proReader will not ship until this summer. The reason given for the delay is that the company needs to

"fine-tune the features and enhance the overall product experience."

The device was originally supposed to start shipping in mid-April, so receiving this announcement about a month before expecting to see the device in-hand is sure to cause some cancelations of pre-orders. Then again, the company did state that it won't charge any credit cards until the device ships, so at this point if you pre-ordered you might as well hang on until after you see how well the iPad fares for business users.

The target user of the QUE is not the typical iPad user (as Matt Miller reported from CES earlier this year) so even though the iPad will now ship long before the QUE, if a business had its eyes on the QUE, chances are it will still want the device for its users. However, with the QUE now delayed until summer, that does give iPad developers a lot longer to create an experience similar to the one that the QUE was hoping to deliver.

As of this writing, Plastic Logic is offering to cover shipping when the device finally ships. This is a nice gesture but with the iPad hitting for $499 and the QUE starting at $649, I would bet that the Plastic Logic team is also now going to try to figure out a way to drive down the acquisition cost of the unit, too.