iPhone 5 goes on sale around the globe

Another iPhone launch brought another onrush of customers to Apple Stores across the country and around the globe, as eager customers queued up to get their hands on the latest smartphone from Apple Friday.

The iPhone 5 went on sale at 8 a.m. local time throughout the U.S. Friday. And that was just one country where the new phone made its debut--the iPhone 5 also arrived in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, France, Germany, Canada, and the U.K.

In New York, that meant the usual crush of customers outside Apple's flagship Fifth Avenue Store, which was as packed as any previous iPhone launch. Adding to the mass of humanity were dense droves of reporters and vendors surrounding the queued up customers. Still, when the store opened its doors at 8 a.m., the line moved briskly and continuously.

Macworld - Another iPhone launch brought another onrush of customers to Apple Stores across the country and around the globe, as eager customers queued up to get their hands on the latest smartphone from Apple Friday.

The iPhone 5 went on sale at 8 a.m. local time throughout the U.S. Friday. And that was just one country where the new phone made its debut--the iPhone 5 also arrived in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, France, Germany, Canada, and the U.K.

In New York, that meant the usual crush of customers outside Apple's flagship Fifth Avenue Store, which was as packed as any previous iPhone launch. Adding to the mass of humanity were dense droves of reporters and vendors surrounding the queued up customers. Still, when the store opened its doors at 8 a.m., the line moved briskly and continuously.

The scene was more subdued at Toronto's Yorkdale Mall, perhaps due to a combination of improved online ordering and the fact that Apple Stores in Canada no longer stock unlocked phones. But you didn't hear any of the 100 or so customers in line complaining about the ligher-than-usual crowds.

That crowd included a number of first-time iPhone shoppers. One Torontonian was making the switch from a BlackBerry to a 16GB iPhone 5, while another person in line was coming back to the iPhone after trying out a Research In Motion phone.

Back at the Fifth Avenue Store, Matthew Wainchus, a student at New York's Pace University, was in line to buy an iPhone 5 on its first day of availability, just as he has for every iPhone release. He was looking forward to LTE support, which will allow the iPhone 5 to connect to faster cellular networks in the U.S.

"I actually like AT&T," said Wainchus, who had been in line for two hours before the Fifth Avenue store opened. "A lot of people have problems with it, but I love it."

Across the Atlantic, crowds waiting outside the Apple Store on Regent Street in London were a bit more mixed about the iPhone 5's faster networking capabilities. There are about ten countries in Europe where iPhone 5 buyers will be able to take advantage of LTE. In the U.K. a commercial LTE network will soon be launched by operator EE, a joint venture between T-Mobile and Orange.

Some customers outside the London Apple Store couldn't wait for the speed boost. "Faster is always better. My broadband at home is only 7Mbps and this should be a least three times as fast," said Aamir Karmali.

EE is the only U.K. operator that will offer LTE, and others buyers don't think it's worth switching operators for faster speeds.

"I am on O2, and I am not swapping just to get 4G ... I don't need it, O2's network is fast enough when you are actually connected to the network," said Matthew Taylor.

Follow the global iPhone 5 launch with the IDG News service live blog

Taylor isn't alone in sticking with his current operator: "I am not getting LTE straight away, because I am on Vodafone," said James Smith.

At the Apple Store Opera in Paris, Anthony Fitch was the first to exit with an iPhone 5. He had arrived in Paris from Rome on Wednesday night to get his hands on an iPhone a week before it goes on sale in Italy. He hoped to be able to use LTE in Italy sometime next year.