By now, we all know the routine: An early start. A line down the street. Apple Inc. store employees whooping and hollering with such coordination it must make Kim Jong Un envious.

Those at the front of the queue seem like shills — set up by Apple and primed to talk to the media. But then, such is the loyalty to this company, it’s just as likely they’re happy to repeat the spiel of their own free will. And then the media, corralled in a little pen, arguably (and probably) doing Apple’s marketing for them.