Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Saturday, October 15, 2011 11:38 pm TWN, By Michael Perry and Isabel Reynolds,Reuters

Fehmeeda Bakhshi from Reading, England holds up her purchase of two iPhone 4S's outside the Apple Store in Covent Garden, after the new iPhone 4S went on sale in London, Friday. ...

More Photos (3)

Sponsors
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.

Fans buy iPhone 4S as tribute to Jobs

SYDNEY/TOKYO -- Apple Inc.'s latest iPhone went on sale in stores across the globe on Friday, with fans snapping up the final gadget unveiled during Steve Jobs' lifetime, many buying the phone as a tribute to the former Apple boss.

Hundreds queued around city blocks in Sydney and Tokyo to be the first to get their hands on the iPhone 4S, which looks similar to the previous iPhone 4 but has a better camera, faster processor and well-received voice activated software.

“I am a fan, a big fan. I want something to remember Steve Jobs by,” said Haruko Shiraishi, waiting patiently with her Yorkshire terrier Miu Miu at the very end of an eight-block queue in Tokyo's smart Ginza shopping district.

Australian Tom Mosca, the first to buy the new phone in Sydney, said the first thing he would do was ask his new white iPhone: “Where's Steve?” Many Apple fans believe the phone was called iPhone 4S meaning “for Steve.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook and his executive team hope the first device launched without the firm's former visionary leader at the helm will safeguard their global market share against a growing challenge from the likes of Samsung. The South Korean firm, Apple's arch-rival with smart phones powered by Google's Android software, expects to overtake it as the world's biggest smart phone vendor in terms of units sold in the third quarter.

The iPhone 4S — introduced to the world just a day before Jobs died — was dubbed a disappointment because it fell short of being a revolution in design, but glowing reviews centered around its “Siri” voice-activated software have since helped it set a record pace in initial, online sales orders.

Apple's Asian fans showed no disappointment with their new phones, ahead of sales in Germany, France, Britain and North America. In Tokyo, 24-year-old Ryosuke Ishinabe said: “I just wanted the newest iPhone. I want to try out iCloud.”

But despite all the enthusiasm at Apple stores, the launch was marred somewhat by widespread complaints on the Internet about problems downloading iOS 5 — the latest version of Apple's mobile software.

There were also problems with iCloud, Apple's online communications, media-storage and backup service formally launched on Wednesday, with users reporting glitches such as losing their email access.

The iCloud issue coincides with problems for rival Research in Motion, which is grappling with an international outage of its Blackberry e-mail and messaging services.

1|2|Next Page>>