Obama eyeing iPad3—’assuming there is a new one’

"Avid" iPad user President Barack Obama has access to the world's finest spy technology—but even the White House was in the dark about Apple's hotly anticipated next generation of the hugely popular tablet, his spokesman said Wednesday.

Asked whether Obama coveted the latest iPad, press secretary Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One: "He is, as I think is now well known, an avid user of his iPad."

Prodded on whether the president had received an advance copy, Carney replied: "I don't believe so. But he thinks, as I think a lot of users do, that the iPad is a great product, and ... like a lot of us, he looks forward to seeing what the new one has to offer, assuming there is a new one. I don't have any inside information," said the spokesman.

(What is Apple unveiling? Here is one possibility.)

Obama uses a BlackBerry, but his re-election campaign store recently rolled out four custom-made iPhone cases.

Late Apple founder Steve Jobs famously warned the president in 2010 that he was "headed for a one-term presidency."