iPad arriving in highly anticipated secret style

With the debut of the iPad, April 3 is like Black Friday for technoholics.

Who knows just how many people will line up outside Apple and Best Buy stores hoping to snag  Apple's latest creation? The tech giant is keeping mum on the details of this apparently top-secret retail mission, so it's also unknown just how many of the devices have been reserved or pre-purchased. (But according to The New York Times, analysts predict Apple will sell around a million iPads by the end of its quarter in June, and around 5 million by the end of this year.)

Apple and Best Buy big-shots also are keeping quiet about how many iPads, which start at $499, they will stock in area stores this weekend to feed the gadget-hungry.

The iPad's unveiling in January sparked a frenzy of tech-talk about its role in our device portfolio, which is still unclear. David Letterman poked fun at his during his late-night TV show Thursday, calling it a $500 picture frame when he touched its screen to display photos of a little boy and a dog. A guest on the show used it as a coaster.

It's not a laptop and it's not a phone. It's billed to be a super-flashy electronic reader, though it's worth noting the iPad doesn't support Flash, commonly used software that provides video, animation and other interactivity on the Web.

The device also quickly rose to pop-culture stardom simply by its name, which to some smacks more of feminine hygiene product or apartment than ground-breaking technological advancement.

The Lenox Square Apple store bore little sign of the iPad's debut this week, with store managers revealing only that the iPad transformation will occur after closing on Friday, in time for Saturday's 9 a.m. opening. (Customers can line up outside Apple as early as 7 a.m., when mall doors are unlocked.)

Best Buy stores throughout the metro area are employing a first-come-first-serve ticketing system. So if you didn't reserve your iPad through a local Apple hub, there's still a chance you can spend your Saturday night tucked in with the new gadget.