iPhone launch Lines build for

On the eve of the day of reckoning for the most-hyped gadget in recent memory, eager customers lined up Thursday, a few even braving torrential rain, to be among the first to get their hands on the coveted new cell phone from Apple Inc.

The gadget, which combines the functions of a cell phone, iPod and wireless Web browser, will go on sale in the United States at Apple and AT&T stores at 6 p.m. Friday in each time zone.

It's been the focus of endless anticipatory chatter and even parodied on late-night TV. It's hogged so much of the media spotlight, a St. Paul, Minn., minor league baseball team planned to spoof its porcine mascot by selling a real 'iPig.'