We popped by Sanlitun this morning to gawk at the crowds lined up at the Apple Store in The Village at Sanlitun to buy the iPad2, which officially launched in Beijing today.

As expected there was already a huge queue by mid-morning with hundreds more expected to come over the afternoon.

The usual scalpers are out in full force as well and are selling both the 16g and 32g models for around RMB 3,888 to RMB 4,800 respectively (the 16g wi-fi sells for RMB 3,688 and the 32g is RMB 4,488 in the store).

Almost since the day it was launched in mainland China in September 2010, the iPhone 4 has been virtually impossible to buy directly from the official Apple stores in Sanlitun Village and Xidan. I know this. Having destroyed my previous mobile in a "water" accident in early September, I'd purchased a cheap Nokia to tide me by until the iPhone 4 came out. RMB 5,000 was definitely a lot of money, but - I told myself - it was an "investment."

Cold cement benches swathed in woolly pelts. Asphalt floors offset by bronze and mirrored walls. Sleek leather couches made unpretentious by lovingly worn creases. One feels very small at Alexander Wang’s second store in the world, a 4,000sqm space that perfectly captures the brand’s aesthetic contradictions: austere but natural, functional but flattering, and trendy but timeless.

Recent reports on Beijing seem to raise more questions than they answer: Is there really a shortage of good-looking men? What date is the iPad 2 arriving? Do we really need another massive mall? And have we finally gotten closure on a 2011 Forbidden City robbery?

The iPad 3 is coming – eventually. Apple CEO Tim Cook finally unveiled its new features on Wednesday, showing off a higher-resolution screen, ultrafast 4G and Retina display, along with an update to the Apple TV box. Just as the iPhone 4S came out to ambivalent media assessment but saw customers thronging Apple stores worldwide on its release date, the iPad is expected to stir another craze. Pre-orders opened in the US yesterday, and it will officially go on sale on March 16th in the US, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong and the UK, amongst others while it will be released on March 23rd in another batch of 26 countries. Surprisingly, this new made-in-China Apple product had no word on its release date in the mainland, Apple’s second largest market by revenue. Why might that be? Agenda wraps up a few theories.

Check out agendabeijing.com for more on the possible causes behind the iPad delay.