image by Caroline McCarthy/CNET

image by Caroline McCarthy/CNET

… But not nearly as crazy as the previous two years. To recap, last year Apple released a faster iPhone to take advantage of AT&T’s faster network (3g) and mega-podcaster, Leo Laporte did a 24-hour marathon run-up to the phone’s release. Before that, in year one, it seemed like the whole world was lining up three or more days early to get what some were calling the “Jesus phone.” And even though I’d sworn myself to wait until version two I couldn’t resist the gravitational pull, walked in after the lines died down that night and bought my iPhone (see my iPhone Unbox! Pls Sign Me Up for a 12-Step Gadget Program blog post. Good times. Funny, I miss hanging out in the lines of happy apple-fanboys, even when I wasn’t intending on buying anything. It was just fun to be there, catching the happy vibe. Sigh.

Here’s a run-down of “waiting-in-line” videos, beginning with this year’s smaller, less-hyped up crowd in Colorado (courtesy TUAW):

Year-Two in NYC w/ Dan, correspondent for Leo Laporte’s TWIT network:

Year-One in NYC w/ Shawn King from Your Mac Life:

For blow-by-blow, multi-city reporting on iPhone Launch Day, version 3 check out CNET’s Live blog: iPhone 3G S launch day coverage. Also check out CNET’s Photos: iPhone 3G S launch day