A year after their American counterparts were first able to buy Apple's much-vaunted iPhone, hundreds of Canadians spent hours in line to be among the first in this country to come away with the hottest tech toy going.
What they queued up for Friday is a next-generation version of the smartphone that lets users surf the Internet and check their email with the added bonus that it works just like an iPod, storing and playing music and video.
About 70 people gathered in the early morning hours outside a Halifax mall to be the among the first in the country to snag an iPhone, some arriving as early as 2 a.m. to beat the expected rush.
"I feel kind of lame, but kind of awesome all at the same time," said Christian Meagher, who was the first to buy one of the smartphones.
"I think it will be cool, but I think a lot of people are making a bigger deal than need be right now. It's just a phone, a cool phone, but just a phone."
The rollout didn't come off without a hitch – a problem emerged involving Apple Inc.'s iTunes software that prevented some phones from being fully activated in store, as had been planned.
Rogers Wireless employees placed some customers' phones on hold for them behind the counter, saying when the system was back up they'd receive a phone call from Rogers and could return to the store to activate the device.
Calls to a Rogers representative about the problem were not immediately returned.
Meagher, 29, a worker at the Halifax Casino, said he decided to make his purchase after hearing that the exclusive Canadian carrier, Rogers Wireless (TSX: RCI.B), had lowered the iPhone's data price to three years at $30 a month for a limited time, just days before the launch.
"That's 100 per cent of the reason I'm here today," said Meagher. "It was fairly ridiculous before."
Officials at the Halifax store, which sold out around 10 a.m., said they expected crowds to grow as the day moved along, handing out numbered tickets to the people who had assembled ahead of the opening.
In Toronto, about 150 people stood in drizzling rain to await the early opening of a Rogers store, where only 20 of the 16 gigabyte and 80 of the eight gigabyte versions of the phones were on hand.
First in line was Jordan Brown, a 16-year-old student, who began his wait at 4 p.m. on Thursday. He said the first person he will call is a friend who called him "a loser" for waiting in line so long.
"I was originally going to come yesterday around 10 p.m. but I came by to ask when they expected people to start lining up – I figured that I didn't have enough time to go home and get my stuff and be first, so I just decided to stay," said Brown.
While his friends took off to the Canada's Wonderland amusement park, Brown spent the night "sitting down, standing up, and giving interviews. I slept for 20 minutes."
"Every two minutes people kept asking 'What are you here for?' And I just kept saying: 'The iPhone.' People kept calling me crazy but I didn't care."
Rogers Wireless hasn't said how many iPhones it has received to sell in Canada or would like to sell here, but has said it has sufficient inventory of the "3G" or third-generation version.
Part of the phone's allure is its multifunctionality, said Brian Rocafort, a freelance videographer who joined the Toronto line at 5:30 p.m. the day before.
"It wasn't bad until 430 a.m. when it started to pour rain, and that kind of sucked," said Rocafort, adding it was worth the wait.
"It combines so many gadgets I have with into one user-friendly interface. I can use it for my personal business and it keeps me connected wherever I am."
Apple has said it hopes to sell 10 million iPhones worldwide by the end of this year.
Launches of the 3G iPhone – an earlier, less powerful version debuted in the U.S. last June – took place in 22 countries around the world Friday, a celebration at Japanese carrier Softbank Corp.'s store in Tokyo featuring dramatic swirls of smoke and a digital clock ticking away over the entrance.
In the United States, where the gadgets debuted last year, iPhones were becoming available at 8 a.m. in each time zone, giving Apple aficionados time before the weekend to see just how the company upgraded the second version of the device with faster Internet navigation and dozens of new software programs.
Select Rogers stores are opening up at 8 a.m. local time to sell iPhones in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Halifax.
The iPhone now sells for $200, less than half its price a year ago when the first generation of the device was launched in the United States.
Rogers has the only Canadian network capable of running the new, faster iPhone. The $30 data fee applies to Web browsing, email and video on a three-year contract for customers who activate by Aug. 31.
The iPhone uses 3G wireless technology on a GSM network, which is widely used in Europe and Asia, comprising about 70 per cent of the global market.
Research In Motion's (RIM:TSX) BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone are competing against each other, and other smartphone makers, in both the consumer and business markets.
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