Last week I didn't even notice the authorised Apple retailer on Smith Street, Collingwood walking home from the boozer.
Nobody was camped outside or queuing. There appeared to be no iPad arrival parties.
And at 8.25am this morning it drops into my inbox. From Apple: iPad. Available Today.
I've written so much about the potential - or not - of this device to bring iDollars to media companies that I had to touch and at least experience this oversized iPhone for myself.
But I'm thwarted. 9am the store is closed. 10am the store is closed.
I try the other Apple dealer on the street, the unauthorised one that sells stuff second hand - Cash Converters. No luck there either.
But finally at 11am I have some luck. The lights are on. The store is open.
But no iPads. Apple's up to its old tricks and told the authorised retailer, My Byte, that it wouldn't be supplying it with the product.
Meanwhile, at Chadstone a crowd of some 270 people are reported to have queued for the opening of the Apple store from 5.30pm the night before.
Some 30 Apple staff open the store screaming.
But somehow I can’t get as excited by this device that sells you apps to read media quarantining content from the masses on the internet.
The ethos of the internet is open free content. In the world of the citizen journalist news is a commodity, if not cheap then free.
I am wondering why a person who isn’t keen on buying a product on paper would choose to pay money for it in an electronic format. Perhaps existing readers who are technology buffs may prefer to receive it in the new format and even cannibalise circulation.
But I wonder if in one year’s time we are going to see anything more than a few tens of thousands of subscribers to newspapers as a whole. I hope I’m wrong.
Anyway, before I make final judgment I shall endeavour to get hold of one of these devices. Just save me from shopping at Chadstone.