Store hours modified for iPhone launch

The iPhone launch is geared to be a massive PR exercise, with Apple pulling out all the stops to ensure that there is a constant buzz around the June 29th date, with major and minor things being reported. So, here's another one:

On June 29, the day the Apple iPhone goes on sale, AT&T-owned stores will close early at 4:30 p.m. and reopen at 6 p.m. to sell the iPhone for the first time. Some Apple stores I spoke with said they were not planning a pre-6 p.m. shutdown before the iPhone goes on sale. Still, other Apple stores did say they were going to shut down as they got ready for the onslaught of want-to-be iPhone customers to fill their stores.
People wishing to be the first to get their hands on the iPhone will only be able to buy the iPhone at Apple stores and AT&T-owned stores. The Apple Web site will also be accepting orders on June 29. And AT&T says it will offer iPhones through its Web site some time in the future. Authorized AT&T resellers will not be selling the iPhone on June 29. Many resellers I spoke with said they expected iPhones sometimes in August.

So, if one reads between the lines, there is a clear expectations that customers would show up in the hordes to lay their hands on an iPhone, sort of replicating the buzz around the first release of Harry Potter books, or the release of a new Star Wars movie.
I am not sure whether all this will actually happen. Is the profile of people willing to buy a $600 phone (with a service plan) such that they will stand in line, or come once to get a bracelet, and then come again at the actual release so that their bracelet will show their place in line to buy the iPhone. Apple and AT & T dearly wish that this is the sequence that should happen.