People Camping Out for iPhone 5 Eight Days Ahead of Launch

Apple has some of the devoted fans around. It's not unusual to see people camping out the night before a big launch in an effort to be among the first to get their hands on Cupertino's latest product. However, it seems the people queuing up for the iPhone 5 in New York City have an agenda.

Fortune reports that the first in line have been there since Thursday morning. That's eight days ahead of the iPhone 5's launch. Aware that those that line up first often receive a considerable amount of attention from the tech blogosphere, there are many there for reasons other than obtaining the newest iPhone. According to Fortune, one and two inline, Hazem Sayed and Sage are there to promote a social media startup called Vibe. The people occupying spots three through seven are being sponsored by a company that buys old iPhones. Gazelle has provided them with food, sleeping bags, tshirts, a tent, hats, and camp chairs for their troubles. They'll also get a free iPhone 5 when all of this is over.

As of Sunday night, there were only seven people in line and no one was there just because they really wanted to be the first to get the iPhone 5. We expect that will change and the true Apple fans will surface in the next few days. The iPhone 5 was announced last week and packs a 1GHz dual-core Apple A6 SoC, 1GB of RAM, up to 64GB of storage, a 4.0-inch Retina display, an 8-megapixel camera in the back with a 1.2-megapixel lens up front, WiFi, and support for 4G LTE. It's due out on Friday.

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  • CaedenV
    I love technology, but there is not a single item that I could think of that is worth me wasting my time and comfort to go and stand in line for multiple days in a row. Seriously, it is not like the iPhone 5 is going to be something hard to find. Yes, the initial batch may sell out, but there will be more within just a few days after launch. Besides, that is what preordering is for.
    Reply
  • spentshells
    WOW so here let me pass something along they may have missed

    http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Samsung-Galaxy-S-III-iPhone-5-Genius-Comparison,17637.html

    Frankly my xperia play is just fine they cancelled the second version but who cares. you would never see me paying around 10 dollars an hour to play games online anyway
    Reply
  • freggo
    Only when they announce Hell as the next location of the winter Olympics will I even consider camping out in front of a store for the next Übergizmo (and from what I read so far the new iPhone qualifies at best as an Average Gizmo).


    Reply
  • beardguy
    I really feel like Apple has been losing steam for awhile. I would call the first iphone a pretty major breakthrough, but ever since then it feels like the updates are marginal. Apple seems to be running out of ideas, and the iphone is becoming quite boring.

    There is really nothing special about the iphone 5 over the 4S. Apple has been surpassed in many ways (finally) by other phone manufacturers. IOS has not seen any dramatic overhaul since it's inception.
    Reply
  • rebel1280
    8 Days camping out for a phone or 8 days camping out with friends in the mountains to fish, drink and sing loudly and appreciate all that nature has to offer then wait a week or two and pick it up in store? hmmmm, *reaches for fishing pole and cooler!!
    Reply
  • ojas
    caedenvI love technology, but there is not a single item that I could think of that is worth me wasting my time and comfort to go and stand in line for multiple days in a row. Seriously, it is not like the iPhone 5 is going to be something hard to find. Yes, the initial batch may sell out, but there will be more within just a few days after launch. Besides, that is what preordering is for.+1 :lol:
    Reply
  • lahawzel
    Don't these people have jobs? How are they going to explain this to their bosses?

    "Hey buddy the iPhone 5 is coming out lemme take eight days off."

    "You're fired."

    "Yay!"
    Reply
  • nurgletheunclean
    This is why the itard label exists.
    Reply
  • alexmx
    That's really sad.

    That demonstrates how stupid are some of the die hard fans of apple in this case.

    Anyone knows what's the half life of steve job's reality distorion field?
    Reply
  • halcyon
    As an iSheep, I totally wish I could camp out too. Hey...I can! ...must...have...that...logo.
    Reply