4 New Zealanders with deck chairs, sleeping bags and a small tent started queuing yesterday outside the Auckland shop which will launch the Apple iPhone New Zealand at 12:01am on Friday - making them the first purchasers in the world.

One of the 4 New Zealand campers, 22-year-old student Jonny Gladwell said -

“I’m really just doing it to be able to say that I’m the first one in the world with one of these phones”

New Zealand’s top mobile carrier - Vodaphone, is selling the iPhone for NZ$199 on a two-year contract. Demand for pricing details was so heavy it crashed Vodafone’s New Zealand website on Tuesday. The same happened to the O2 server in the UK when they were swamped with orders and have now completely sold out online.

And, trust me, the UK and New Zealand are not the only countries going iPhone crazy…

In Japan around 20 people were lined up outside their flagship mobile store in Tokyo on Wednesday morning, two full days before the launch, with a sign at the head of the queue reading “We Love iPhone”.

First in line was Hiroyuki Sano, a 24-year-old graduate student from Nagoya, 225 miles west of the capital. Sano, wearing an Apple T shirt and preparing to turn 25 whilst in the queue, said -

“The big appeal is that this is an Apple product. I’ve told my professor I was going to go buy an iPhone, and he gave me permission. He is an Apple-lover too, and he sent me off cheerfully.”

Hong Kong’s Telecom International received 60,000 online applications over the weekend from desperate customers trying to get their hands on one of 500 phones they have on sale. Desperation levels hit meltdown with people even pleading online that they needed the iPhone to appease demanding wives.

The original iPhone was only available in the United States and Europe, but will debut in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand this Friday as part of the global launch in 22 countries

> > click here to shop online with Apple New Zealand

> > click here to shop online with Apple Australia