LONDON (AFP) — Britons desperate for an iPhone finally got their hands on the much-hyped gadget Friday as it went on sale here four months after being launched in the United States.
Apple's iPhone -- an Internet-enabled mobile telephone, portable digital media player and digital camera in one -- was available in shops and online from 6:02 pm (1802 GMT) at 269 pounds (563 dollars, 383 euros) each.
Some 1,300-odd Apple, Carphone Warehouse and O2 stores faced a surge of customers who queued for hours to be among the first to get hold of one. Sales of the eight-gigabyte devices were limited to two per person.
"It will be the best day we have ever had and our best weekend," Carphone Warehouse boss Charles Dunstone predicted.
"It is a really important day not just for Apple but actually for the phone industry. I think it will move people's perceptions of what a mobile phone is a long way forward."
The mobile phone will only work on the O2 network. Owners can sign 18-month contracts on tariffs of 35 pounds, 45 pounds or 55 pounds per month.
Die-hard fans of the device began queuing outside Apple's flagship store on London's Regent Street on Thursday morning, despite the chilly, wet weather.
"It is amazing. I just like the fact that it brings everything I carry with me into one device. I don't have to think -- 'have I remembered my iPod?"' said computer studies student Graham Gilbert, 22.
His friend Nik Fletcher, 21, from Petersfield in southern England, said he had already seen an iPhone in the United States, where it was released on June 29.
"They have a cult and there is a very loyal following," he said.
"I thought it was just the sleekest, easy to use mobile phone I have ever seen. It offers this really easy to use, simple, stylish way to make phone calls -- so why not?"
Jonathan Arber, an analyst with telecoms and software consulting firm Ovum, said: "In the long term it will be interesting to see how consumers will react to having to pay for this device.
"Obviously in the UK most consumers are used to getting their devices for free.
In the contract segment there are a lot of people who are not going to pay 35 pounds a month.
But for a large group of people the iPhone is certainly an attractive proposition," he said, according to the BBC.
The iPhone was also released in Germany on Friday just after midnight. France is scheduled to follow on November 29, and Asia in 2008.
Apple said 1.4 million iPhones were snapped up in the first three months after its launch. The firm hopes to sell 10 million units by the end of 2008.
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