LONDON, Nov 9: Britons desperate for an iPhone finally got their hands on the much-hyped gadget on Friday as it went on sale here four months after being launched in the United States.

Apple’s iPhone — an Internet-enabled mobile telephone, portable digital media player and digital camera in one — was available in shops and online from 6:02 pm (1802 GMT) at 269 pounds ($563) each.

Some 1,300-odd Apple, Carphone Warehouse and O2 stores faced a surge of customers who queued for hours to be among the first to get hold of one. Sales of the eight-gigabyte devices were limited to two per person.

“It will be the best day we have ever had and our best weekend,” Carphone Warehouse boss Charles Dunstone predicted.

“It is a really important day not just for Apple but actually for the phone industry. I think it will move people’s perceptions of what a mobile phone is a long way forward.” The mobile phone will only work on the O2 network. Owners can sign 18-month contracts on tariffs of 35 pounds, 45 pounds or 55 pounds per month. Die-hard fans of the device began queuing outside Apple’s flagship store on London’s Regent Street on Thursday morning, despite the chilly, wet weather.

“It is amazing. I just like the fact that it brings everything I carry with me into one device. I don’t have to think — ‘have I remembered my iPod?”’ said computer studies student Graham Gilbert, 22.

His friend Nik Fletcher, 21, from Petersfield in southern England, said he had already seen an iPhone in the United States, where it was released on June 29.

“They have a cult and there is a very loyal following,” he said.

“I thought it was just the sleekest, easy to use mobile phone I have ever seen.

The iPhone was also released in Germany on Friday just after midnight. France is scheduled to follow on Nov 29, and Asia in 2008.—AFP