You know those rumors about how Apple had something exciting to showcase on Sunday?

Yeah… well… it really depends on your definition of “exciting.”

Apple “refreshed” its stores into what they’re calling “Apple Store 2.0” Its primary feature… all the paper info sheets that used to stand with the products have been replaced by iPads on little Lucite stands.

I’ll admit, it’s kind of nice to see a “green” alternative to paper cards which become obsolete once one minor specification changes. And, it would seem that several pages on an iPad can convey a lot more info than what I recall seeing on one of those single sheets. However, I’d avoid visiting the iPad display if you’re on any prescription medication – seeing iPads being used to display specs of other iPads might prove to be a bit trippy.

These iPads are running some customized firmware that disables the Home button, and they don’t seem to be powered off of a standard 30-pin connector (which makes it a convenient way to tell the difference between the “info” model and the “demo” model in the iPad display).

However, possibly the most convenient thing about this display is the button to page an Apple Specialist - something that my past experiences at the local Apple Store have shown to occasionally be more difficult than it should be.

So was all this worth the hours we dedicated to speculating on this? No, probably not.

But at least now we have yet another reason for iPad 2’s being so hard to come by.