iPhone Frenzy Starts Early in Manhattan

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

And I'm Robert Siegel.

Apple's iPhone is said to be this summer's must-have piece of technology. The phones don't go on sale until 6 p.m. on Friday, but there are already a handful of people lined up in front of the Apple store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Mr. DAVID KLEMIN(ph) (Apple Customer): I've had seven hours of sleep in the last 60 or 70 so - I'm starting to run low on fuel.

Ms. JESSICA RODRIGUEZ(ph) (Apple Customer): It's going to be a pandemonium. This is going to be like the biggest movement in cell phone history. Steve Jobs is like the man. He knows what's hot and he knows what we want.

Mr. ERIC MUELLER(ph) (Apple Customer): And I guess I'm going to be here until Friday afternoon if I decide to stay. But it all depends upon whether or not I can get some help from my friends because I just decided to come around the corner here. I had a meeting with a client and I thought, oh, I'll go by and check out the scene at the Apple store.

SIEGEL: The voices of David Klemin, Jessica Rodriguez and Eric Muller, standing in line for an iPhone in New York. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.