The iPhone 3G is released on Friday July 11th, and many Apple and AT&T stores will be opening early to allow early adopters to get their hands on the updated device, dubbed iPhone 2 by many. But 8am isn’t early enough for some, and queues are already forming outside the New York Apple Cube.

I’ve never really understood the logic of people who feel the need to be first to own a particular product. What are they trying to prove? That they have more stamina to camp out overnight than anyone else? That they are somehow bigger fanboys than the rest of the people who buy a product in the first few weeks it’s on sale? Or aware they just slightly mad publicity-seeking idiots keen to get their names and faces on websites and in newspapers?

The latter option seems to be the most likely for a group of individuals who are already camping outside the Apple store in New York. Gear Diary got the scoop after one of its writers spotted the group heading the queue on Friday 4th of July. They must have thought: so much for Independence Day, let’s camp outside the Apple store a week ahead of what would be considered normal instead.

What is a bit sickening is that the couple heading the queue also have a baby in tow. Now, if people are stupid enough to want to waste their time queuing for a week in the middle of New York then fine, but they should not inflict that fate on a young baby. Can someone call social services?

There is speculation that far from being mad Macheads who worship at the feet of Steve Jobs, this group has ulterior motives (other than for being the first people to own an iPhone 3G) and the whole thing could just be a publicity stunt.

The group has a website called Waiting For Apples, and as well as claiming to be “on a mission to set a new Guinness World Record for longest time waiting in line to buy something”, there seems to be some kind of political message running through the whole thing, with the environment seeming to play a big part.

Okay, they have succeeded in gaining some publicity for themselves with this little stunt, but whatever message they are trying to convey has so far got lost in translation. I think we need to ignore these idiots, and you and I, like every sensible person in the world, can just pop down to our local Apple store on Friday and pick an iPhone 3G up without having to camp out for six days in advance.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 8:07 am under News, Opinion, iPhone.  Print This Post

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.