It's a week early, but a handful of people are already in line at the 5th Ave. NYC Apple Store for the new iPhone 3G, which goes on sale next Friday, July 11.

Engadget:

Right now, about ten people have started a line outside of Apple's flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York. Word is that the family at the head of the queue are attempting to break some kind of record which involves their baby -- which kind of sounds a little intense if you ask us.

GearDiary:

The security guards will allow everyone to stay and indicated that as of yet there are no plans to put out barricades. Apple employees are just starting to come out of the store to talk with the people and one employee actually posed for a photo with the first in line.

Fortune, with more on who these people are:

TheWhoFarm, that’s who, a newly formed publicity-seeking environmental collective with a agrico-political mission: to persuade the 44th President of the U.S. — whoever that turns out to be — to transform the White House’s 17-acre lawn into an organic farm.

“We’re here to restore the edible landscape,” says Daniel Bowman Simon, 28, the group’s organizer and spokesperson and a young man given to making grand pronouncements. “We want to bring seeds of change back to the White House.”

Daniel and his supporters — there are 10 in town this week, but only five braved the rain that soaked the city overnight Friday – want to set a new Guinness World Record for “longest time waiting in line to buy something.”

But that’s just a vehicle to get attention for their broader concerns — sustainability, affordable housing, energy security, locally-grown food (New York State apples are a big theme this week), and “eating right,” says Simon, “especially our leaders.”

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Photo: Engadget