Wait, wasn't I just here a year ago? Yup, right near the FAO Schwarz awning again on East 58th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues at 5:30 a.m., waiting for the iPhone to go on sale at the main Manhattan Apple store around the corner. This year I'm about 20 feet closer, on the near instead of the far side of the awning. The line also isn't as tightly packed as last year's. And there are only a couple of mattresses, just one tent.

But the line surprisingly has wound all the way around Madison Avenue toward 59th Street, surprising since this year's iPhone is much less a mystery than the original. But about half the people I've spoken to don't have the original, so being able to claim to be one of the first to get a new iPhone is all new to them. Newbies. Whaddya gonna do?