Apple fans queue for latest iPhone

Ami Yang buys her iPhone4 S from All Black Dan Carter at Telecom's Victoria St store in central Auckland early today. Photo / Greg Bowker

The first person in New Zealand to be sold the latest iPhone was more excited by the device than by the All Black who sold it to her.

Telecom and Vodafone launched Apple's iPhone 4S at one minute after midnight today at stores in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

iFans desperate to get their hands on the phone booked spots in the Telecom stores, which provided entertainment, food and drinks for them.

University of Auckland student Ami Yang, 19, made sure she was the first in line at the Telecom store in Victoria St West by getting there at 8.30am.

Almost 15 hours later, Dan Carter sold her the iPhone 4S, which she celebrated with a scream of delight.

The All Black served four more of the 100 or so customers in the store.

Ms Yang admitted that before last night, she hadn't been quite sure who Carter was. "I knew his look because of rugby, but I didn't know his name."

Ms Yang, who has her last exam on Monday, took yesterday off studying so she could queue for the newest-generation iPhone.

Ms Yang, who has an iPhone 4 which she'll now give to her mother, said she was disappointed Apple hadn't released the iPhone 5 as expected, but she was still really excited about the phone.

In the hour leading up to the midnight release, Carter played with DJs People of Paris and posed with fans who whipped out iPhones and iPads to take pictures with him.

He said it was more nerve-racking playing with the DJs in the room full of Apple fans than it was playing rugby in a stadium filled with thousands of people.

He said that since the World Cup win, there had been "plenty of sore heads" among the All Blacks and he was trying to stay as far away from Ali Williams as possible. "I don't think he's stopped drinking for the last few weeks."

Carter said he was now focusing on his upcoming wedding to Honor Dillon.

The new iPhone has an improved camera with a higher-resolution sensor and will run more smoothly because it has the same A5 chip found in the iPad 2.

iPHONE 4S

Latest iPhone generation:
* Has the Siri application which can understand spoken commands.
* Has improved camera and technology.
* Was launched by Telecom and Vodafone at 12.01am today.