Stopped by the Apple store yesterday; note that I didn't have my Ipad 2 with me, I just happened to stop in and I asked them about the light leakage issue.
The salesperson/team member told me he hadn't heard of the issue before (the cynical side of me says they're told to say this to downplay, but that's probably just my paranoia). He then went to the back to ask a tech, came back in a few minutes and told me that light leakage on the Ipad 2 is considered "in spec". He did say though that if it continues to bother me I should bring it in for them to look at.
My translation - there's a fairly high defect rate with this issue, and if they they just replaced all of them it would cost them too much money, so they're going to try and discourage folks from returning. If you have extreme leakage and/or make a big enough of a fuss they will probably swap it.
From my perspective, to say it's not a defect is self-serving and just plain silly; my plan is to exchange where I bought it (not Apple). I doubt a non-Apple retailer is going to argue with me and try to refuse replacement because it's "in-spec." Now, just have to wait until the stock fills in a bit.
More opinion: I still love Apple and their products, but unfortunately this is the way they roll - they move fast with new products, tend to have a lot of issues/defects, and like most companies they aren't going to make expensive fixes unless they're forced to (e.g. free bumpers for iPhone4 for a time).
