The Invisible iPad2

On its website, describes the coveted iPad2 this way: “Thinner. Lighter. Faster.” It’s so thin, it’s so light, and it’s so fast that you couldn’t even see it at the Apple store at 1 Infinite Loop on release day.

It wasn’t because the store sold out of the new device, as so many other stores reported. No, it’s because the store at Apple’s headquarters didn’t have the new iPad2.

The only line there at 5 p.m. Friday was the line of employees waiting for the company bus to whisk them away at the end of the workday.

The iPad1 was inside along with a handful of employees who were handling the devices. Where was the iPad2?

It won’t be in that store for “awhile” said an employee. The majority of shoppers at the company store are employees, he explained, and they don’t get their employee discount just yet on the new release.

Early adopters stood in lines across the country to buy the new iPad, but those who may be afraid they missed out need only to turn to the giant classified ads on the Internet. A quick search on Craigslist yields dozens of iPad2s available throughout the Bay Area, most with mark-ups from Apple’s listed prices.

Patient purchasers can order an iPad2 online from Apple’s website with an expected delivery date of two to four weeks.