Of Course There Are Already Four People Camped Out In Line In NYC For The New iPhone

(Maulleigh)

There are at least four people in the world who have nothing better to do for three weeks than sit in lawn chairs and wait for the new iPhone. And we know this, because there are currently four people who have been camping out at the New York City Apple store since last week, sitting in lawn chairs and waiting for the new iPhone to go on sale on Sept. 19.

That’s the date everyone is expecting for what will likely be the iPhone 6 (though who knows, maybe we’ll get an iPhone 5z or something wacky), which is why these four souls have come together on the pavement of the Big Apple to sit and wait, reports Quartz.

The thing is, these two sets of twosomes — a team of cousins and a husband-and-wife set — aren’t in it just for the next shiny bit of gadgetry: Both groups have other incentives to be there, namely, that they’re there because of companies who want their names in the news along with these campers.

One company is paying for all the food the cousins will need to eat during their campout, and have supplied them with T-shirts with the company logo for marketing purposes. They’ll also get the iPhone of their choice for free, if that’s what gets announced at the upcoming Sept. 9 event.

The couple arrived at the store a day after the cousins, but paid them $2,500 to line jump so the startup the husband is consulting for can get a better chunk of the publicity surrounding his time in line, they explained.

And if you’ve got the time to spare and the means to do it, it could be sort of like vacation? I guess?

“Who wouldn’t want a free phone for just being here for a few weeks and wearing some T-shirts?” as one cousin puts it.

Who indeed. And hey, free T-shirt.

The people camping outside the Apple store want more than the iPhone 6 [Quartz]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist