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Apple enthusiast Daniel Walsh waits with a friend to get his hands on the new iPhone 5. - Source: ONE News -
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Telecom and Vodafone are both holding events around the country for the launch of Apple's iPhone 5 overnight.
Telecom is holding a "luxury queuing experience" at its Victoria Street West store in Auckland, at Willis Street in Wellington and at Christchurch's Riccarton Mall.
Apple enthusiast Daniel Walsh arrived at Telecom's Auckland store at 10am this morning to ensure he would be the first in line to receive his iphone 5 from former All Black Jonah Lomu.
The 35-year-old pilot had to make sure he was the first in line this year after he was pipped into third place for the launch of the iPhone 4S last year.
"I think there was more demand for the 4S than there is for the 5," said Walsh.
"Judging from the amount of people queuing as well there were a lot more queuing for the 4S than there is for this evening's 5."
The self-confested "geek" has rounded off his iPhone gadget family with the Macbook Pro computer, iPad and the Apple TV.
And he predicts he will be queuing again when Apple releases the next iPhone installment.
"I've always been a geek, I love my gadgets and toys."
Vodafone has launch events at its headquarters in Auckland, the Wellington Lambton Quay store, Christchurch store at Westfield Riccarton, and the George Street store in Dunedin.
Keen fans will get their hands on their brand new iPhone 5 at both events from 12.01am tomorrow.
At both events, iPhone fans are being treated to entertainment, refreshments and "the opportunity to chill out in comfort as they wait-it-out for the clock to hit midnight".
High demand
Although Telecom says on its website that it has sold out of its pre-order allocation of the iPhone 5 in both black and white, in all 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB versions, it has confirmed to ONE News it will have more iPhones available for purchase tonight.
Similarly, Vodafone is also experiencing high demand for the iPhone 5, but customers can still pre-order the new phone through its website.
As of this morning, the iPhone 5 was not available to order through Apple's New Zealand website.
In the United States, Apple has sold out of its latest smartphone, with more than five million iPhone 5s sold in the three days since it hit stores, the company said on Tuesday.
While sales were solid, analysts were concerned that Apple was unable to produce the new phone fast enough to meet demand.
The early total for the iPhone 5 topped sales of the iPhone 4S, which sold more than 4 million units in its first weekend after Apple introduced it in October 2011.