Apple fans were quick to hit the stores when the new iPhone 5 this morning.
About 10 people cued outside both the Telecom and Vodafone stores at Bayfair waiting for the stores to open this morning.
Jared Campbell and his wife arrived at the Vodafone store about 20 minutes before it opened and secured the sixth place in the line.
``It's just an awesome phone,'' he said. ``We use it for everything. We use it as a computer, camera, video camera, mobile phone, everything.''
He knew they would be queing up for the new model as soon as his wife got her first iPhone.
``We got the 4S and never regretted it...we just thought when the 5 comes out we'll go and get one.''
It might be Mr Campbell's wife who is the proud owner of the new phone but he is more than happy to be inheriting her old model.
Vodafone Bayfair store manager Jason Teeter said he expected more people to be waiting to buy the phones this
morning but expected the 50 phones he currently had in stock would be sold by tomorrow morning.
``Tauranga's a little bit different to a major metropolitan. I expect it will come in waves,'' he said.
If, like me, you are wondering what the difference is Mr Teeter explained.
``It has a bigger screen and a faster processor. It's lighter and thinner. It's the creme del la creme of mobile phones at the moment.''
Hard to go back to sleep
Courtney Todd of Mt Maunganui received a special delivery around 2.00am today - a brand new iPhone5.
It's likely that she is the first person in the Bay of Plenty to get her hands on the new device.
Joel Porter from the Telecom store in Tauranga was eagerly awaiting a driver from Auckland, who left the city at 12.01am - the time that the new iPhone5 went on sale - to drive to Tauranga.
Not only did he deliver a new phone to Courtney, he also came laden with a bag of Telecom treats including chocolate, muesli bars, energy drinks, an iTunes voucher and a hat.
Telecom figured that it was hard for Courtney to go back to sleep after getting her new iPhone5 personally delivered as soon as it went on sale in New Zealand.
The Telecom Tauranga store started selling the iPhone5 at 9am this morning. Mr Porter said interest in the Bay is really strong.
The centre features four basketball-size courts with maple flooring.