Latest iPhone launched in New Zealand

Retailers in New Zealand began selling the iPhone 4S at 12:01am (1101 GMT Thursday), attracting a crowd of about 100 in Auckland, where Telecom Corp. laid on pizza and entertainment for the Apple faithful.

University of Auckland student Amy Yang took time out from exams and lined up from 8:30am Thursday to ensure she was first in line for the phone, screaming with delight when All Black Dan Carter presented it to her.

Yang, 19, admitted she was not quite sure who Carter was before he gave her the phone.

"I knew his look because of rugby, but I didn't know his name," she told The New Zealand Herald.

The iPhone 4S was initially launched on October 4 in Australia, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, the United States and Canada, one day before Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died following a long battle with cancer.

Apple sold more than four million of the phones in its first three days on the market.

New Zealand is part of the second stage of the launch, which also includes Hong Kong, South Korea, Greece, Poland, Portugal, El Salvador, Romania, Malta, Bulgaria, Panama, Albania, Guatemala, Armenia and Montenegro.

The latest version of the phone boasts faster speeds, a voice-controlled assistant called Siri and an improved camera.

Wellington man Jonathan Mosen, who is blind, queued for six hours to ensure he got his hands on the phone, saying the voice-controlled technology was a boon for the visually impaired.

"It's the only cellphone you can take out of the box and it is usable by a blind person," he told Fairfax Media.

Apple plans to make the iPhone 4S available in more than 70 countries by the end of the year.

(c) 2011 AFP