I remember, not too long ago, when Sony (SNE) introduced Playstation 3. The day before the launch, I was walking down Fifth Avenue in New York and saw a long line of what appeared to be homeless people, raggy and baggy and smelling of rain, huddled around the block under umbrellas, tents, makeshift lean-to’s. Turns out it wasn’t a food line, or a collection of undocumented aliens applying for amnesty. It was just folks waiting for Sony on Madison Avenue to open the next day, and the chance that they might be one of the lucky ones, the first on their block to embrace the soul of the new machine.

Two young friends of mine waited in that orderly mob for an entire day back then. The store opened, and they began the slow, snaky trudge up to the front, where the glistening object awaited. As they got near the door, a big black limo with Jersey plates rolled up to the curb. A functionary in a black suit, white shirt, big flashy cufflinks got out, as a shadowy Don waited in the darkness of the long back seat. “I’ll give you each two grand for your place in line,” said the natty foot soldier. They took the money.

Now you can get a Playstation 3 in any Best Buy (BBY). And I don’t want one. I mean, I want it a little. The kind of way you want a new car sometime in the future, when the need and the mood strike. But have to have it? No.

This brings us back to the iPhone. There’s a launch date. I’ve seen an ad and boy, it looks so cool. You turn it on its side and the screen orientation changes automatically. You touch it and it does all kinds of neat stuff. Web. Photos. And in the end? It’s a phone. I could use a new phone. I’ve wanted one for a while. But how much do I really and truly WANT?

Not enough yet. There are some negatives I’m aware of. The phone is tied to one carrier and it’s not mine. I’m loyal to my carrier. I’ve read some nasty spoilsports who say it’s a better everything-else-machine than it is an actual, you know, phone. That depressed me. I don’t like it when people harsh my growing glow.

But it’s early. There are several weeks. If Apple plays its marketing plan right, if the frequency and reach of its advertising is perfect, if I receive enough positive impressions and adequate word of mouth… who knows?

I will know it when it starts. It will move from mild interest to a slow, nagging burn that lodges itself in my gizzard and never departs. After a time, it will be the first or second thing I think about when I get out of bed in the morning. When I see an ad or hear about it, I will feel something missing in myself, a hole that, unlike other gaps in my karma, can be filled with a simple purchase. I will start being stimulated by pictures of the thing. So shiny. So sweet. Ooh. And then, as we get close to June 29th, I will begin to work out strategies for getting the obscure object of my desire. I will pull strings. I will call friends at Apple. If I don’t have any friends at Apple, I will attempt to make some very quickly. My mind will plot and whirl and spin and not be satisfied until I get what I crave.

I hope things work out that way. I love to want things. And to get the things I want when I want them. That’s important, too. If my engine of desire does manage to lock in, strong and hot, at some point between now and June 29, I truly do hope that I manage to acquire my gizmo right then, on that date, or sometime very shortly thereafter.

There’s something about seeing your true love on mass display in a store window, easily accessible to all, that takes the tang out of the act of possession, don’t you think?