For an Apple devotee, queuing for three and a half days in the baking heat to be the first to get their hands on an iPhone is nothing.

And that is exactly what a group of dedicated Apple fans is doing. Outside the company’s flagship store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, they have set up camp, and – flopped on deckchairs and writing blogs – are whiling away the time until the new device goes on sale at 6pm on Friday.

First in line is Greg Packer, a retired highway maintenance worker from Huntingdon, New York. Mr Packer told the CNET website that the experience of queuing for Sony's PlayStation 3 in Long Island in November had taught him that “security will not let you line up at a mall for hours and hours”, so this time he'd chosen the streets of Manhattan instead.

On a blog about his experience, entitled First in Line to buy an iPhone, Mr Packer writes that he “showed up on Monday morning, June 25th, at 5am”, and began imploring passers-by to make donations in the form of food and travel cards.

He was joined by David Clayman, a Chicago University business graduate who said he saw it as a chance to “hang out with a wide cross-section of the New York population”.

“My parents thought I was nuts when I told them," Mr Clayman said, adding on his own blog – ‘the iPhone Adventure’ – that he had brought a blues harmonica and a text book called "SAP Business Information Warehouse" to keep himself entertained.

When asked how they would cope with the 34C temperatures and severe storms that are predicted in New York for tomorrow, both replied: “We’ll deal with it.”

Since details of the iPhone were first revealed by Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive in January, the company has barely had to lift a finger to generate publicity for its device.

A high-profile "teaser" ad was run during the Academy Awards, followed by a broader campaign in the past couple of weeks, but a steady stream of news, speculation and comment in the blogosphere has ensured that the iPhone buzz has never really dipped.

Today the Engadget website reported details of the price plans that will be offered by AT&T, the exclusive carrier, with monthly packages starting at $60 for 450 minutes of talk and "unlimited data".

News of "Camp iPhone" forming on 5th Avenue at the start of what has been dubbed "iPhone week" inspired yet another round of opinion online.

Writing on the gadet blog Gizmodo, Brian Lam said: “Even for the PS3, PS2, and Wii, I've never seen a 100-hour lead time on a gadget queue. If you look at the close-up shot, you can see the geekiness seeping off their faces and onto the pavement.”

Other comments were less salutary. “This guy is everything I hate about this country,” read one on Engadget.

Another said: “Apple fanatics disgust me with their ignorance sometimes. But hey, it's American, and we can like what we want, even if it's a PoS.”

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