i live across the st from one in boston... noon and no one is there except a cop who looks upset with his life.

@jeremy - since you opened the door, I think you'll find people in the iphone lines are secretly upset with their lives too! Or maybe I'm thinking of their (ex-) spouses...

Honestly, I'm surprised the lines didn't form sooner. Very civilized :)

I checked out the Att store at Astor and Broadway in NYC and there were probably 20 people in line, then I went down to Apple Store in Soho. Crazy. At least 400-500 people in a line that wrapped all the way around the block. Apparently the word is out that flagship Apple stores will have around 1500 units for sale today, while ATT stores will have under 50 units. Not sure if this is true or not, but it's true enough to put people in line at the Apple store and not the ATT store.

All this line-watching stuff happens during every game console release cycle. The demographic appeal is broader here (or is it????) so that's why it's news. Everyone will get over this by Monday.

I walked past two AT&T stores on Washington St. in Boston at lunch today. The first, smaller one had one guy in front of it on my way to the restaurant. When I came back, there were two.

The other store had no people in line. It's pretty close to the other store, which might have something to do with it.

Maybe most of the line-sitting types went to the Cambridge Apple Store.

Would be interesting to see some kind of mashup comparing iPod sales by region with income demographics.

Seems logical to think that, to 80% of the population, $499 is a meaningful chunk of change, but to the other 20% it's peanuts.

Then again, you see teenagers at minimum wage wearing $400 jackets and $80 jeans, so who knows.

It's not uncommon for teens to have that one expensive thing that they scrimp and save for. A hot gaming PC, or maybe their car. Musical gear - guitars, amps, drums, keyboards. When I was a teenager home audio equipment was the thing.

These days, kids are so phone-oriented I'm sure plenty will be willing to save up for an iPhone. And that's ignoring the kids with rich parents who won't have to save.

Last week I left work at 10:30, and saw three young women walking up State Street in Boston together, but each was having her own cellphone conversation.