Japan's Apple fans queue days before iPhone 3G launch

AFP, July, 2008

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's Apple fans traded sleep and comfort for the thrill of being first to buy the latest iPhone as they began queueing Wednesday, two days before it officially goes on sale here.

Some 30 people lined up in front of a Softbank Mobile store in downtown Tokyo where the iPhone will go on sale at 7:00 am Friday, five hours earlier than any other Softbank store in Japan.

"I am a huge Apple an and I'm excited to buy the iPhone, which I find is far better than any other cellphone," said 25-year-old graduate student Hiroyuki Sano who was first in line.

Wearing an Apple T-shirt, Sano arrived early Tuesday morning from the central city of Nagoya and sat for a day-and-a-half in his foldable chair, eating food from a nearby convenience store.

The 199-dollar iPhone 3G, which ...