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In a few hours, at precisely 6 p.m. on Friday, June 29, 2007, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and AT&T (NYSE: T) will begin retailing the long-awaited iPhone to customers who have been patiently waiting in line or have sent proxies to stake out a spot for them.
Ground zero is the Apple store in San Francisco. For folks who can't be physically present at the carnival, a second-best option is available. Some of the many tech podcasters who have been following the iPhone's impending arrival will be on location, describing the melee from every conceivable angle.
Whichever Comes First
Scott Bourne, host of "The Apple Phone Show" at
Podango.com, told MacNewsWorld that he and his staff have been strategizing for months about how to cover the big day. One important component of their strategy 
is actually getting a phone. Bourne will also be reporting from the scene, though, staying on site until the store closes or runs out of iPhones -- whichever comes first.
Angelica Marden and Heather Dale of GeekSugar.com -- a blog that's part of the Sugar Publishing network, which focuses on technology from a woman's perspective -- will also be on site.
Like Bourne, Marden and Dale are balancing their reporting mandate with the all-important goal of actually acquiring an iPhone today.
"We plan to line up in downtown San Francisco at both the Apple and AT&T stores," Marden told MacNewsWorld. "We will have our video producer and a couple of interns with us. Heather and I will lead the crew and do some interviews, and wait our turn in line at the same time."
The duo have already mapped out WiFi spots, Dale added. "Hopefully, we can pick up a signal and live blog," she told MacNewsWorld. "If not, we will go back and forth between the office to post."
Industry bloggers covering iPhone's launch include Yahoo Tech's Chris Null, founding editor in chief of Mobile PC magazine.
Lycos will be pushing an iPhone Mix to its front page on Friday, Kathy O'Reilly, director of public relations for Lycos, told MacNewsWorld.
"The Mix is designed for others to add video clips, post comments and chat while watching," she said.
Stand-in-Line Services
Many of the podcasters and bloggers covering the big evening will be interviewing the "stand in liners" who have been offering their services for the last week through online bulletin boards such as Craigslist and auction sites such as eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY).
Rob Walch, host of the Today in iPhone podcast, told MacNewsWorld that one of his listeners e-mailed him to say he is actually paying a kid US$8 an hour to wait in line for him.
According to the e-mail , the listener will have the kid stand in line starting at 8 a.m.
"I figure a $60-$70 premium to ensure my place in line is better than missing out," 'John' wrote in the e-mail. "I will get there around 4 and relieve my line stander, and wait out the last few hours myself. I went in a few days ago to make sure this would be ok, and they said it was fine."
Walch has collected links to blogs covering the big day that he shared with MacNewsWorld, cautioning that it is by no means comprehensive.
"There is so much information out there about the iPhone now, it is almost impossible to put every relevant blog on it," he said. His parting words for Friday: "Good luck and try not to get trampled."
Being There
Here's Walch's list of places to go online to sample the iDay action:
-
Everything iPhone
My iTablet (Formerly My iPhone -- they changed the name out of fear of Apple)
Plus one resource site:
Talkback: 
