Manhattan iPhone Watch: T minus 2.5 days

David Broad (left) and Lindsey Lanpher in line in Soho

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)

11 PM Eastern time, and the iPhone's just over two days away. The latest news from the NYC iPhone front is that a line has begun to form in front of Manhattan's "other Apple Store"--the smaller, less glamorous, not-open-24-7 downtown location in the shopping-heavy SoHo neighborhood. There are only three people in line, however, and they're all together so they're taking shifts (two were present when I got there). All three are from advertising agency Anomaly, which represents the nonprofit organization Keep a Child Alive. The two Anomalists I met, Lindsey Lanpher and David Broad, explained that they're going to immediately put the phone on eBay and donate the proceeds to the foundation.

It's similar to the mission undertaken by David Clayman in the 5th Avenue line, except that he's planning to donate the profits to pro bono organization Taproot.

When I asked Lanpher and Broad what they planned to do about the still-predicted thunderstorms, they shrugged and said "Lean-tos? Umbrellas?" Broad then joked, "We're going to try to change the weather with the iPhone." He noted that there's a North Face store just around the corner.

The scene outside the 5th Avenue store

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)

The 5th Avenue store's line, on the other hand, doesn't appear to have gotten any longer. First-in-liner Greg Packer was asleep, but Clayman was wide awake and said that he was approaching his all-time record for the least amount of sleep in a given amount of time. "I'm having too much fun with it!" he added.

[morewines]

I wouldn't buy an iPhone tooo slowww

The IPhone will not run on the fastest network which
is 3G.

[JonP07]

I'll keep my Blackjack

I won't be buying one. I'll keep my blackjack. It does what I want and runs on 3G networks. Maybe when the iPhone supports 3G and has other features I'll look into it.