Apple faithful are rewarded for long wait for latest iPhone

Early arrival: Craig Fox is first in line at the Apple shop in Regent Street

Apple enthusiasts have been camping for days outside the company's store in Regent Street to be among the first to own the latest iPhone.

More than one million preorders have been received for the iPhone 4S, which goes on sale at 8am on Friday.

The first person in the Regent Street queue is Craig Fox, 30, of Cambridge, who has been there with his friend Daniel James, 26, since Friday afternoon.

"We braved heavy rain on Saturday night," he said. "But we are used to it, as we did it for the iPod 2 launch. We were among the first 10 people to get it and we want to do the same this year."

He added: "Yesterday, one guy gave us an iPod Touch and £800 just to wear T-shirts to promote his new app, Zombify Me, because he knew we'd get a lot of publicity. Passers-by have bought us dinner and coffees in the morning."

Mr James, from Highbury, said: "It's great to be here, we have even signed up to a 24-hour gym for the week so that we can shower and use the toilets."

Mike Roberts, 21, from Hampton Court, joined them last night. He said: "It's really exciting to be first in line for the new phone. People who have been following us on Twitter have bought us all food."

Zohaib Ali, 21, from Uxbridge, who has been queuing since Sunday, said he wanted the new iPhone 4S for its "exciting new features and great design".

He was joined last night by Ahmed Touill, 18, from Paddington, who said he expected the queue to get "really busy" today or tomorrow.

Luke Peters, editor of T3 magazine, said: "So many people put off buying an iPhone but they won't wait for another year so I think will upgrade now."

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