In what may have been nothing more than a minor footnote to Friday's launch of Apple's iPad 2, shipping times on Apple's Web site quickly jumped from 3 to 5 business days to 2 to 3 weeks.

Interestingly, according to a report from AppleInsider, AT&T is already shipping iPad 2s to customers, with some expecting to see theirs as early as Monday.

As of the writing of this article, shipping times on Apple's Web site are 3 to 4 weeks for all models of the iPad 2. The photo below, from AppleInsider, shows the customer's shipping date as March 11th, a solid month before Apple expects to ship its inventory of iPad 2s.

Does AT&T have better shipping times than Apple for iPad 2 It appears so.

As Apple has often noted, the success of the iPad has been tied to customers' ability to actually touch the device in the many retail stores in which Apple's products now appear, including Best Buy, AT&T, Verizon, and Wal-Mart.

So, if you're looking to order your iPad 2 online, perhaps the smart move is to check out AT&T.

Have any of our readers ordered their iPad 2 from AT&T or Verizon What's your expected ship date Let us know in the comments.