iPhone frenzy as fans line up

Apple fans queued around city blocks worldwide yesterday to get their hands on the new iPhone 5 — but grumbles about inaccurate maps tempered the excitement.

The new phone went on sale across Europe, Asia, and Australia with mobile carriers reporting record demand that looked likely to stretch Apple’s supply capacity.

Apple had booked more than 2m orders for the device in the first 24 hours, double the first-day sales of the previous iPhone 4S.

Some analysts expect Apple to sell up to 10m iPhone 5s in September and JP Morgan estimates the phone release could provide a $3.2bn (€2.5bn) boost to the US economy in the fourth quarter.

Apple’s rival and component supplier, Samsung Electronics Co, moved to spoil the party, saying it planned to add the new device to existing patent lawsuits against the US company.

The new phone has a larger, 4in screen and is slimmer and far lighter than the previous model. It supports faster 4G mobile networks and also comes with a number of software updates, including Apple’s new in-house maps feature.

But not everyone was impressed with the standard of the new technology. Some users criticised the maps feature for geographical errors, which included putting an airport icon over the Airfield area of south Dublin, which has farms rather that airstrips.

An Apple spokeswoman said it launched the service knowing it was a major initiative. “We are continuously improving it, and as Maps is a cloud-based solution, the more people use it, the better it will get.”