Fie on you, San Francisco. Bite it, New York. The real hardcore iPhone fans are sitting out in Phoenix, especially the poor schmucks at the end of the line.
While the black curtains are starting to descend on stores on the East Coast, shrouding the displays from view, stores are barely open on the West Coast and Arizona (which is currently on Pacific time). And it’s getting hotter. The forecast is for 110-degree heat, and line at the outdoor Biltmore store on E. Camelback Road has wrapped around the front, where only a few umbrellas separate the eager from the desert heat. Read on for the experience of the Phoenix faithful.
Juicy rumor: Apple employees are heard mentioning 800 phones per store.
Man of mystery “Steve” sits at the front of the line, where Gearlog respects his right not to be photographed, although the Arizona Republic reportedly took his picture anyway, Steve claimed. (The Republic is doing a nice job liveblogging it, too — attaboy, local reporters!)
Happily enough, Steve, a local truck driver, claimed he won’t be selling his iPhone, or his place in line, like some of his cohorts. He displayed his current phone — an ancient Audiovox flip — and said it was time for a new one. He showed up at 2 PM Thursday afternoon, and endured the night amiably with his linemates, although security forced the group off the premises, where they snuck back on, were kicked off, et cetera, for three or four times until a detente was found on the public sidewalk.
Oddly enough, however, Steve said he may not be using some of the advanced features of the iPhone — he’ll probably use the standard ringtone, he said, and he probably won’t use it as a music phone. Steve did say he does own an iPod, though — he was first in line to buy that one, too. He’s not a Mac fanatic, but he has previously owned a PowerMac, he said.
“Look what the iPod did for the music industry. It’s hard to believe that [the iPhone] won’t do the same for the phone industry,” Steve summed up.
Behind Steve sits the charming mother-daughter duo Barbara and Jody Fournier. Jody, beginning work as an occupational therapist, was escorted by her moth Barbara, on a visit from just north of Maine. Barbara, no dummy, agreed to sell her place in line for a cool $130, piggybacking on the two-iPhones-per person rule and serving as the “mom” of the group. Barbara reports that she’s going to enlist Jody to help her put songs on her iPhone. She notes that it’s a tad warmer in Phoenix than in Maine, although the conveniently-placed misters help significantly.
Jody, looking fresh and relatively chipper as she pounds away at her Apple laptop, notes that she was able to go home Friday morning and change clothes. Such is line-sitting in tony Phoenix…
Then come the opportunists. Among them is Gabriel Arias, who has a pretty sweet deal: as an employee of Burning Bush Media, Gabriel’s boss is paying him $15 an hour plus expenses ($50 or so for drinks) to wait in line and buy an iPhone. Arias said he also plans to buy one for himself, and sell it on eBay. “I’m going to keep the box [with the iPhone inside],” he said. “I’m not even going to open it.”
At 10 AM, the store doors open. Jim Smith, a senior assistant manager, obeys Apple HQ dictums and refuses to speak to the press. He graciously allows a photo of the sparkling Apple interior, however. Will the gathered faithful be treated to free water? Perhaps an ice cream from the Haagen-Dasz store across the way? Only time will tell.
Oh,and for those of you out in the umbrella zone, good luck!
Original post by Mark Hachman
Just a few weeks after the 
Hot off the rumour-mill folks is news that Apple is planning to announce a 3G version of the iPhone on Monday in a ménage a quatre with Vodafone, Germany’s T-Mobile and Carphone Warehouse. 
