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Queues Form An Entire Week Prior To iPhone Launch

10:30 - Tuesday 8 July 2008 by Jane McEntegart - source: Tom's Hardware

It looks as though a group of people in New York City are hell bent on breaking a Guinness record for the longest time spent waiting in line. Well, at least we think that’s what they’re doing…

This July 4th saw a group of ten people set up camp outside Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in NYC. Coming from a country where a quick scout of the O2 IRL stores in the city revealed not a soul had turned up to queue for the first generation iPhone launch in Ireland, to me it seems a little odd to wait in line for a full week.

GearDiary headed down there to see out what it was all about and it turns out there’s more than one reason for queuing an entire week prior to the launch of the iPhone.

It seems the majority of the group are all part of a group called The WhoFarm. Fortune interviewed the group who say The White House Organic Farm Project is dedicated to turning the 17-acre lawn in front of the White House into an organic farm. They also say they’re endeavoring to break a record for the longest time spent in line. At the front of the queue were a man and woman with their 6 month old baby. The couple said they hoped to not only break the record for waiting in line but hoped that the presence of their daughter would help them break another record.

Engadget was also down there and interviewed Daniel, who seems to be leading the group. Daniel said the group was down in there in support of Apples and that The WhoFarmers just loved the idea of the new iPhone.

“We’re sitting out here in support of Apples. We love the idea of this new iPhone. We’re out here on Independence Day because we’re gonna claim independence from having to sit in chairs and offices to get our work done, now that we’re gonna have these portable iPhone, you know, virtual offices.”

Apparently New York cops have since sent the baby home (probably because the idea of having a six month old out of doors and braving the elements for an entire week was a bit dodgy from the beginning) and reports say the group of ten is now five.

Interestingly, the group also says they’re going to buy iPhones for Barack Obama and John McCain because ‘the world needs an American president to “think different”’. Whether these people actually want 3G iPhones or this is just a publicity stunt for The WhoFarm remains to be seen but if the latter turns out to be the case, they definitely picked the right product to endorse.

Stay tuned for more on the WhoFarmers.