Some Apple fanatics are already camped out in front of the New York Apple store waiting for 8 a.m. Friday, when the new iPhone goes on sale. But I'm seriously wondering why, even to the point of suspecting that they're Apple shills trying to create a buzz.

Don't get me wrong. I intend to get a new iPhone. But this year, I am not going to camp out, like I did last year, the night before. Last year, it was a brand-new story, with a brand-new phone unlike anything the mobile technology world had ever seen. It was an experience. A once-in-a-lifetime experience, thank you.

And as it turned out, there really wasn't a need to stand in line even then. People who showed up later in the day, after the lines had cleared, got their phones just as easily, and even faster, than those who stood in line the night and day before.

This year, the iPhone is old news. It's still, by far, the coolest phone out there. But the one that goes on sale at 8 a.m. Friday is just an updated model that runs on a faster network. And the new iPhone 2.0 applications that Apple will make available for it and even for customers with older iPhones, just don't have the breathtaking newness buzz of the initial release last year.

I'm sure there will be lines. But that's because it's going to take considerably longer for Apple and AT&T to sell the phones, as they must be opened up and activated at the point of sale, instead of at home and online as with the original phone.

That means contracts and credit applications have to be filled out. Figure 20 minutes a customer.

Will there be enough of the new iPhones on hand to meet weekend demand? Apple and AT&T refuse to say. That's because they want us to think there won't be. So we'll line up early, worrying that it might be ... gasp! ... sold out and that earlier birds will have gotten the iPhone. It's all straight from Marketing 101. Artificially inflate demand, get lots of free publicity, make lots of money.

And that's OK. I'm excited about the new iPhone. It promises to be a huge evolutionary leap in mobile communications. The original iPhone I bought last year is, hands down, the best mobile phone I have ever used. I expect the new one to be even better.

I do plan to get one Friday and already have a buyer lined up for my old one. But if, by chance, the new iPhone is sold out Friday, I can wait a few days. Or weeks.

To stand in line for hours and hours ahead of time this year is pointless, it seems to me, unless people have nothing better to do and want to experience the "community" atmosphere of like-minded techno-geeks who are salivating over the next big thing. We did that last year. Old story.

The hype level, as with all things Apple, is going to build every day as Friday approaches.

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Mike Wendland is a technology columnist for the Detroit Free Press. He can be reached at 313-222-8861 or mwendland@freepress.com.