等着排队购买新iPhone手机的人都知道：许多人，甚至大多数人，都是在拿钱替人排队。他们是一个转售链条中的“步兵”，这个链条从苹果商店开始，辗转香港进入中国大陆。在中国大陆的黑市上，一部手机可以赚得高额差价。

    这不是什么新鲜事，每一款新iPhone手机上市的时候，我都会谈到这个问题。但在上周五iPhone 6和iPhone 6 Plus上市几个小时前，我却见到了以前从未看到的一幕。

    电影制片人凯西•尼斯塔特【其作品包括HBO电影频道爆出的《尼斯塔特兄弟》（The Neistat Brothers））拍摄了一段视频，并发布到YouTube上。这段视频记录了前三个步骤——等人、换人、付钱，外加纽约市警察局在人行道上上演的好戏。

    在这段6分钟的视频里，有个人问道：“这对苹果（Apple）的营销会有什么好处？”

    一个更好的问题是：苹果对此能做些什么？（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Anybody who has stood in line waiting to buy a new iPhone knows the score: Many, if not most, of your fellow line sitters are paid to be there. They are the foot soldiers in a chain of resales that leads from the Apple Store, through Hong Kong, to mainland China, where the devices command a premium on the grey market.

    It’s an old story, one I’ve seen played out at nearly every iPhone launch event. But I’ve never seen anything like what happened in the hours leading up to Friday’s launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

    Film producer Casey Neistat (HBO’s The Neistat Brothers) captured the scene in the attached YouTube video, documenting the first three steps — the wait, the switch and the cash payout — plus some sidewalk drama courtesy of the New York City Police Department.

    “How can this possibly be good marketing for Apple?” asks a man at 6:00 minute mark.

    A better question: What can Apple possibly do about it?