Apple Inc's new iPhone went on sale in stores across the globe Friday, prompting thousands to queue around city blocks to snap up the final gadget unveiled during Steve Jobs' life. Queues wound down the street in Sydney, Tokyo, London, Paris and Munich as fans gathered to get their hands on the iPhone 4S, ahead of later store sales in North America. "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 end of an eight block queue in Tokyo's smart Ginza shopping district. The new model looks similar to the previous iPhone 4 but has an upgraded camera, faster processor and highly regarded voice-activated software, which allows users to ask questions. "It's like your own personal secretary," said Shane Gray, 42, in Sydney. The phone – introduced just a day before Jobs died – was initially dubbed a disappointment because it fell short of being a revolution in design, but glowing reviews centered around its "Siri" voice-activated software have helped it set a record pace in initial, online sales orders. Apple CEO Tim Cook and his executive team hope the first device sold without their visionary leader at the helm will protect them against a growing challenge from the likes of Samsung Electronics. The South Korean firm, Apple's arch-rival with smartphones powered by Google's Android software, expects to overtake it as the world's biggest smartphone vendor in terms of units sold in the third quarter. "(Jobs) made everything better and the products he released were thought through in such detail," Duncan Hoare in London said, after a loud roar greeted the opening of the store. "It was about the beauty of something and the simplicity." Apple does not release sales figures on launch day, so gauging initial sales is difficult. However it took more than 1 million online orders in the first 24 hours after its release, exceeding the 600,000 for the iPhone 4, though that model was sold in fewer countries initially.
