Lineup at the Apple store on 5th Avenue? What's up with that? That's exactly what we thought earlier today when we saw this story on Engadget. A few nanoseconds later we remembered DVICE's world headquarters is mere blocks away from the Apple cube, so we grabbed our coats (will it ever get warm here in New York?) and went to check it out.

By the time we got there, the lineup was gone, but a couple of helpful Apple blueshirts told us what was what: It turns out that the lineup wasn't for the widely — and wildly — rumored 3G iPhone. The store got a shipment of current iPhones this morning, apparently a rare occurrence these days, and when word got out, some touchscreen-hungry folks got in line to snatch up the few that came in.

Clearly, Apple's getting to the end of its inventory of the original iPhone, further evidence that the Gen 2 model is almost certainly coming very soon. And it's good to know that there isn't yet any idiot that would line up for a product that hasn't even been officially announced yet.