Gadget fans in frenzy as iPhone debuts

THOUSANDS of gadget fans, or their paid stand-ins, lined up yesterday to be among the first buyers of Apple’s iPhone, a music and video playing phone that seeks to reshape the mobile industry.

Just after dawn, nearly 200 people were waiting outside Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in New York City for the device, which was not to go on sale for another 12 hours. The iPhone has whipped technology lovers into a frenzy usually reserved for rock stars.

“It’s a gift for my wife,” said Eric Brandon, 42. “It’s a little expensive, but it’s worth it because there is no other phone that’s like it.”

Some aimed to make a personal profit from the iPhone, which costs up to $600 (€443), by selling it or getting paid to wait. Others had been sent by family members or bosses keen on the bragging rights of being among its first owners.

“Someone is paying me a few hundred bucks to hold the spot,” said Roy Fuller, 26, an administrative assistant who took the day off work to spend on line.

Speculation Apple is to unveil the name of the carrier it will work with in Europe was revived after Dutch magazine Bright reported, without naming sources, that Vodafone is most likely to bag the deal. News is expected on Monday.

The svelte, glassy iPhone went on sale at 6pm local time in US cities. It is a bid by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs to build upon the success of the iPod and expand the market for the company’s software and media services.

The iPhone melds a phone, web browser and media player. US tech gurus have praised it as a “breakthrough” device that is “beautiful”.

Mr Jobs’s reputation as a tech trendsetter rests on whether the iPhone can do for handsets what the iPod did for digital music — unify a fractured and confusing market with a slick, easy-to-use product.

Some customers have camped outside Apple stores since the beginning of the week.

Early reviews have highlighted the large touch-sensitive screen and the full-blown web browser, while expressing concern over the quality of the Apple phone’s virtual keyboard and lack of features such as picture messaging.

Mr Jobs has said he would not be surprised if there were not enough iPhones to meet demand.