CrunchGear

It allows TV news to interview people in line live on the 6 o’clock news.

I don’t know that this is a factor but…I think maybe the time has something to do with making the iPhone available to business people that typically work until 5PM. Most business people can’t leave work in the morning to wait in line and by the time a business person got to a store after work, I’m sure the stock would be depleted. Apple surely wants to get business people on this device because of its price and opportunity to appealing to the enterprise. College students and such are good but Apple is leveraging the iPhone against longstanding smartphone devices in the marketplace. And one of the major criticisms of the iPhone is that it will not appeal to the enterprise where it most desparately needs to be successful.

Or it could just be that 6PM on June 29 is the precise moment when all three moons of Endor align and the eclipse ignites the power of the Dark Crystal inside each iPhone. :-)

Web-
I believe the latter of your assumptions is correct.

Bozo-
Duh?

A few people I know at Cingular/AT&T have said each store is expecting ~200+ people and those stores that can have arranged for extra parking and local police to direct traffic.

It also also be

1) the absolut latest possible moment they can release the device while still meeting the “in June” promise.

2) that someone actually thought about all those people that would camp outside the stores over night in order to be in line by the time they open up in the morning? This way now the people will probably start lining up during the day and it will be easier for everybody to handle.