The latest evolution of the wildly popular iPhone went on sale in Canada and a number of other countries Friday, with die-hard tech geeks lining up overnight at darkened malls and outside shuttered Apple stores, waiting for the cash registers to fire up.
The iPhone 4S was first unveiled early this month. The smartphone is more powerful than its predecessor, the iPhone 4, has a better camera and is now powered by the same chip used in the iPad 2.
Apple fans instantly began to salivate over the new device, with their interest continuing to grow as the subsequent death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs propelled the brand to dominate news headlines for days.
The phone officially went on sale at 8 a.m. local time in stores across Canada, the U.S., U.K. and three other countries. However, there appeared to be some controversy as some attempted to take advantage of the high demand that exists for the product.
Dedicated Apple enthusiasts Ben Mastel and his mother Heather lined up at Oakridge Mall in Vancouver at 8 p.m. on Thursday night, in order to get a good spot. They were among about 200 people in line outside the mall at 4 a.m. PT, with people visiting, playing cards and sleeping in tents and sleeping bags as they waited for the store to open.
"We're settled in. We've been here since about 8 o'clock there are people playing mahjong, there are people sleeping in pup tents, it's crazy," Heather said.
However, her son Ben said tensions developed as some at the front of the line allowed late arrivals to join them. He said photographic "evidence" showed the crowd at the front of the line was roughly eight times as large at 1 a.m., as it was at 10 p.m.
"Her and I have been crusading against the people that have been letting everyone into the front of the line since the very beginning of the night, there's been a little bit of drama," he told CTV's Canada AM.
Adding to the tension was a Craigslist ad from someone claiming to be at the front of the line, willing to allow people to join their group for $200, Ben said.
The issue wasn't unique to Vancouver. In Toronto a Craigslist ad was posted by someone who said they were seventh in line at the Fairview Mall Apple store. The poster offered to sell the spot in line for $250, or to sell two phones for $900 each.
Messages posted on Twitter early Friday by Apple fans said there were a couple of hundred people in line at the Eaton Centre Apple store in downtown Toronto. The group erupted in cheers as the clock struck 8 a.m. and the store opened its doors.
Nelson Fong, who was first in line at the store after queuing at 5 a.m. on Thursday, managed to buy four of the coveted smartphones and said he considered it an honour to purchase the last product to be released by Apple before Steve Jobs, whom he greatly respects, passed away.
"It's a special day so I wanted to be part of it," Fong said.
In addition to Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., the phone went on sale Friday in Australia, Germany, Japan and Britain, and will arrive in 22 additional countries by the end of the month.
In New York, about 200 people were waiting at Apple's Fifth Avenue store at 8 a.m. local time.
At the head of the line at an Apple store in Los Gatos, Calif. was Steve Wozniak, who co-created Apple with Jobs in 1976. Wozniak was sitting in a chair, patiently playing with his white iPad, chatting with Apple fans and posing for pictures while waiting for his chance to purchase the new device.
Wozniak is still on Apple's payroll and maintains his status as employee #1.
Many customers decided to forego the lines and pre-order the smartphone for home delivery. More than one million orders came in on the first day it was available for pre-order, shattering the previous record, Apple said Monday.
