THEY queued outside shops before dawn, clamouring to sign contracts that will eventually cost them up to $8400 over two years - it was no wonder one Vodafone executive described the Australian release of the iPhone as "like Christmas in July".
Apple's reputation for imposing strict rules on its retailers continued again with the local launch of the iPhone, with the company insistent its July 11 product embargo be honoured. Most of the phones were delivered to stores late on Thursday - on the proviso none were activated before midnight. Many technicians worked through the night configuring the phones for mobile phone networks.
Toorak resident Alex Ho claimed the No.1 queue ticket outside Telstra's Bourke Street store, the reward for arriving at 10pm on Thursday and surviving the next eight hours on a combination of "magazines, fried rice and PSP (PlayStation Portable)".
The queue of about 150 people stretched from the Swanston Street corner halfway to Russell Street. Many in the crowd had distinctive white headphones indicating they were listening to iPod music players, a predecessor to the iPhone.
The crowd at Vodafone's launch in Chapel Street was smaller than that of Telstra's CBD launch and included North Melbourne Football Club captain Adam Simpson, who was hoping to snare an iPhone before he flew out to Adelaide with his teammates later in the day. The Kangaroos captain has been doing part-time work for Vodafone, his team's sponsor, and as such tried to sign up as many teammates as he could - 21 of the 40 players on the list wanted an iPhone.
"I think the target consumer area would be young people with a bit of coin," Simpson told The Age. "They (his teammates) all think they are getting it for nothing, but they aren't."
The demand proved difficult for Telstra and Optus, with intermittent problems connecting new iPhone customers to their network. Telstra, Optus and Vodafone adopted the Apple line of market secrecy and declined to reveal how many iPhones were sold on the first day.
Telstra, in a bid to curb the potential for sell-outs, is selling the iPhone in only four locations in Victoria - Bourke Street, Chadstone, Doncaster and Geelong.
Vodafone has distributed the iPhone to a larger number of stores and made another round of deliveries yesterday to help cope with anticipated Saturday morning demand, although it expects to sell out today.
L'iPhone 3G est disponible dans 21 pays ceux en bleue et vert foncé ; les pays en vert clair auront l'iPhone 3G bientôt disponible.
 Le nouvel iPhone 3G est sorti vendredi dans 21 pays, mais cette première journée de vente a été marquée par des problèmes de synchronisation de l'appareil avec iTunes.

Un porte-parole de l'opérateur télécom AT&T a déclaré qu'Apple travaillait à résoudre le problème mais qu'il s'est refusé à donner un délai. , a-t-il dit à propos des délais de résolution.

An Apple iPhone
Apple Store de l'Avenue Palo Alto en Californie en juin 2007.

CBC News trouve excessif le prix des services de base de l'iPhone, dont en Italie pour Vodafone vend l'iPhone à 499€ de 8Go dont le forfait est de 180 € par mois soit 2160 € par an cela en fait le forfait le plus cher pour les iPhones dans le monde suivi par le Canada avec un peu plus de 1368 €. Swisscom dont le service est le moins cher avec un peu moins de 62 € par mois.