iPhone 5 buyer gets ready to camp out

We're pretty sure that we know when the iPhone 5 will be announced - Tuesday 4 October - and one man is already gearing himself up to get in the queue.

Rob Shoesmith, by day a marketing and PR executive for a smartphone app development firm, is prepared to camp out outside the Apple Store in Covent Garden, London, to be sure of getting himself an iPhone 5 on launch day.

Big deal, you might say. Well, here's what makes it interesting - Shoesmith is prepared to spend up to a month waiting outside the store for launch day and plans to get there on the day Apple officially announces the new handset.

The iPhone 5 Experiment: Macworld's interview with Rob Shoesmith

What's more, he can't spend any money. Everything he requires for the duration of his stay will have to be provided by others - shelter, food, outdoor clothing - as well as all the entertainment he needs to keep boredom at bay as he waits.

He's been busily preparing the ground already - metaphorically speaking, at least. Several companies have pledged to provide him with various products including toilet paper and contraptions that he can actually use for going to the toilet in, not to put too fine a point on it.

He'll shower at a nearby gym and several local restaurants have agreed to bring him food, but he's also appealing to members of the public to stop by for a chat - anyone who turns up with a bacon sandwich in hand will be especially welcome.

On his blog, The iPhone 5 Experiment, Shoesmith lists the companies that have pledged their products and services. Among the more interesting are the pledges of a personal assistant who'll be able to run errands for 16 hours of the time he'll be queuing, a mobile laundry service, a USB battery pack for keeping his iPhone and iPad charged, and a belly dancer to entertain him.

So what's the point? "The idea of the experiment is to provide some funny entertaining blog posts whilst I'm in line and to show how much influence Apple has over totally unrelated companies," Shoesmith told Macworld.

We'll be keeping tabs on Rob once his experiment starts, but in the meantime you can read the transcript of our interview with him.

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