5th Ave Apple Store iPhone 6 Campout Stretches 3 Blocks

The line of people camping out overnight at the 5th Ave. Apple Store in Manhattan for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus now has hundreds of people and stretches three long New York City blocks. The line is so long, it crosses the street, as shown in the video below.

According to our videographer, who asked to remain nameless, the line stretches part of a block from the Apple Store Cube to the corner going south on 5th Ave. Then it turns and goes east one street block to Madison, where it turns the corner and goes north the full block on Madison. Then it crosses the street and turns west going up a good part of the block back towards 5th Avenue.

The video was taken at 3:00 PM EDT on Thursday, meaning these folks are planning to wait in this line overnight. This is for a phone that was available for preorder. The line is likely to grow even longer as people start getting off work this evening. If past is prologue, more than a few will also take iPhone Sick Days off on Friday. Apple plans to start selling the new iPhone 6 models at 8:00 AM local.

A lot of the people waiting in line are Asian, and there was a lot of Chinese being spoken. This is likely a product of China's iPhone 6 block resulting in gray market profiteers lining up to purchase iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus for that market.

Related: we have a photograph from Instagram user @KrissyHotDogs showing the barriers Apple has ready to manage the line. You might remember Krissy's excellent photograph of the 5th Ave. Cube after one of the panels shattered earlier this year.

It just goes to show that TheStreet's Jason Notte really nailed it when he said the thrill is gone from for iPhone.