Getting an iPhone is not the point, clearly: if you know enough about Apple to want one THAT bad and know about these events, then you also know new models are not coming to the store right away.
At this point it has become nothing but an "out there" social event. If you're into that, you can feel like one of a small select group who does "such and such activity." All the more a source of "pride" by being difficult and uncomfortable, I suppose. (Like being a bike messenger maybe?)
I am not into that. You couldn't pay me enough.
Add it to the LONG list of social activities I just don't get: Apple Store campouts, drunken bar crawls, cruising the shopping mall, riding in circles in extra-loud modified vehicles, SuperBowl parties, loud clubs where you cannot converse, packed crowds where you cannot move, concerts where you cannot hear the music clearly, window-shopping for clothes, church, waiting in line to renew your driver's license... you name it.
The human race gets up to come real nuttiness: if it's not for you, at least enjoy the spectacle!