Lots of people love Apple, but not Sahar Sabet and Zack Jafarzadeh, two potential customers at different Apple stores in Georgia who were prevented from buying an iPad and iPhone, respectively, for fear that they (the Apple products) will end up in Iran. Iran and the United States are not close, which is why the U.S. holds a complete embargo against Iran, placing it in the company of Cuba, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. This means that U.S. goods, like iPads and other Apple products, cannot be exported or sold from the United States to these countries, and a U.S. person is prohibited from doing the same no matter where they are in the world.

Believe it or not, nearly two weeks after the iPad 2 launch (release date was March 11), many Apple stores are still out of the iPad 2! Or, more correctly, they are getting them in in dribs and drabs, with long lines queueing starting at 6:00 a.m. (!), and any new supply of iPad 2s selling out within minutes of the Apple store opening 3 hours later. Here is our experience being in the Apple line, and getting our iPad 2, and our first thoughts and observations on the iPad 2, the “Smart Cover” (hate it!), and the iPad 2 case that we love.

The newest phishing scam is a fake order confirmation from Apple, exhorting you “To view the most up-to-date status and make changes to your Apple Online Store order, visit online your Order Status.” The “visit online your order status” link actually goes to https://www.theinternetpatrol.com/brick-wall/. And while it says that it’s from up-to-date @store.apple.com, it’s not really (our version came from dj @accountingsevices.co.nz)

Microsoft announced some time ago that it was going to set up Microsoft stores, similar to Apple’s highly successful Apple store. But it seems that Microsoft doesn’t think that imitation is the only form of flattery. Apparently actually poaching Apple’s employees to run the new Microsoft stores is right up there too.