Wow, five or so people actually queued for this thing!

I don't understand why people have such a compulsion to purchase the latest gadget? Boring...

Ravinder S, Notting Hill, England

Sounds like all the good points are also available on the touch. Features such as the 2MP camera and EDGE web browsing don't sound very revolutionary. I got a dinky 3G mobile which can surf the net and take pictures. I've got an 8GB Touch for £200 which can do all that nifty pinchy stretchy wifi browsing stuff as well as listen to music and watch videos. To be parting with an extra £60 plus a £35 18 month contract for with extra "phone" features feels wrong you could get a 16GB Touch for that. Imaing walking down the road with one of those slab by your ear? If you didn't think those white earbuds would make you a target...

Mr I P Freely, London,

Ha, all the little whiners are out to state their uneducated perspective on the iPhone and share with us their sad and mind-numbingly boring lives.

Of course, you can wait a year until it's superseded. but then, why not wait another year for the next iteration, and another year ...

An undeniable fact is that only Apple can deliver software of this excellence, and this is a first generation model, there is sooo much more in the pipeline.

My iPhone, here in Australia, works a treat ... thanks to ebay, and when it arrives officially, i'll get a kosher one as well.

zax zan, Sydney, Australia

I'm sorry; Did he really compare Apple with Christianity?

Simon, Warrington, Cheshire

1) No removable battery
2) No 3G
3) 2-megapixel camera, no flash, no zoom, no video..

Yeah iphone rocks.....

Apple is a corporate, its just got better marketing than all the other corporates we love to hate.
High Priced, high quality, under featured yet beautful with well designed interfaces...that sums up apple doesnt it?

Chris, London,

All you dissenting stiff-upper lipped Brits are Luddites & techno-phobes. In what sense is the iPhone not a revolutionary product? You can bash it all you want but the iPhone's interface is beyond anything existing in the market, including the buggy and unusable Windows Mobile 6. Don't talk to me about Nokia's Symbian OS, it requires 5-6 key presses just to change basic phone settings. Of course if something revolutionary comes along, you don't expect to get it for free. There is obviously a premium for technology. Unlike the NHS, in which case you really do get crap for free.

Bryan Khoo, Singapore, Singapore

Well, I queued for about an hour and a half in Basingstoke for mine. The shop was indoors, there was a bench at the end of the queue so I spoke with some other people and had a very pleasant evening.

The staff at the O2 shop came out with bottles of water and muffins for people in the queue and it was all very organised. I was first to the till, and had finished paying at 6:10. I was not pressured into anything (except the O2 insurance at £7.50 per month!!! - I declined obviously...!) and had a very pleasant experience.

I've now moved my Orange contract across to O2 with no issues at all, and am loving it. I used to browse the net at home with a Palm Tx (when I couldn't be bothered launching a real computer) and the iPhone is SOO much more useable.

£270 for a cute gadget that does everything I want when I'm out of the house? Bargain. £35/month? I was paying that on Orange for 200mins + 30 texts with no internet. I'm quids in!

There will always be doubters, but I love my iPhone.

John L, Reading, Berkshire

Was all for running out and getting Apple iphone but when I read that you are tied in with O2 for 18 months on a tariff which is a rip off... forget it. I can wait. I have a phone (ok not the same but not far off) and I am not that desperate to be ripped off.

CJ, Bexleyheath, Kent

Phone shop owners please cover all other phone displays with a black shroud or kindly supply copious amounts of tums. Why anyone would tolerate or want any other than iphone is bizzare. The "Star Trek" device we always wanted, has arrived. Do us all a favor and get one so i dont have to see your ugly handset.

Fred, Cambridge,

> "I cant believe how people have been suckered into a product which in 12 months time will be obsolute and will be half the price"

I can’t believe you can’t spell obsolete. Were you typing on an iPhone? :)

Every tech product will be cheaper and superseded in 12 months. Aside from being ahead of its time right now, like the iPod was, the iPhone has an advantage in this regard because most of its interface is done in software.

Apple has already improved the software and added features since the US launch 5 months ago. From next February, we’ll have third party applications to look foward to, and we already have lots of web sites offering services tailored to the iPhone.

Thanks to the buzz, no other phones will have as much interesting software written for them as the iPhone. In 12 months, my iPhone will be better than it is now.

pauldwaite, Croydon,

You know you need to stand back, take stock, add onions, mushrooms and chicken for a lovely heart warming soup. You can then take it down to the queues of people waiting for their IPhone and sell it to them, making a tidy profit. In no time at all you'll have enough money to sign up to the 18 month contract.

Steven, London, England

You can lower the cost of your phone by seeing if your company will cover your monthly phone bill & data plan. Its a good deal for them as they did not have to buy and support yet another phone and you only have to carry one smart phone.

Greg, Mission Viejo, USA, California

How can John Hammond in the article say that the iPhone represents good value because some other high end phones are more expensive without a contract.

Surely the point is that not only is it £269 *with* a contract but it is an 18 month contract and until somebody unlocks it, a device that is useless on any network other than O2.

It may be pretty and there is no doubting that the user interface is slick. But I have been using more technically advanced phones since 2003 and I didn't have to pay over £200 for them !

Wayne Stallwood, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

get a nokia N95 8GB better camera does movies and you can add 100's of 3rd party apps are people mad suck in by a shinny product and gimmicks

Andy, Coventry, warks

Wow - I cant believe how people have been suckered into a product which in 12 months time will be obsolute and will be half the price. I mean look at the US - I looked at them over there and they cut the price just after it came out. But hey good for Apple - they are doing well as a result. I myself wouldnt want an iphone even if I was given one (and if I was given one I would sell it!).

John, London,

shiny but very little substance

Peter, London,

Incredibly 'sad'. Really. It is.

Ben Robinson, Brighton,

I already have an iPhone :) bought one in the states in september, and it has been the best purchase I have ever made so far. Also, it only cost £150, it is the 4Gb model though.

Colin, Falkirk ish, Scotland

Although, I'm a bit of an Apple fan myself...chaps this is just a phone. A stylish phone yes, but rather too pricey for my tastes when combined with the 18 month tie in.
I'll wait another 6-10 months for iphone II to hit the streets then I'll walking into Carphone warehouse on a warm weekend and purchase the updated version, hopefully for free on a 12mth £35 contract. LOL ( I know I'm dreaming on the contract conditions) .

Nevertheless, I hope the wait is worth it, I'm sure it will be, but with the cost be so....now that I have more doubts about. Oh and there is the 8-10 months you'll need to wait to upgrade when the iphone II is released.

Beth, Plymouth, UK

I agree with Phill - the fact that Apple think that 8 hours talk time is better than a high speed connection and can get away with charging nearly double the US dollar price just goes to show how dumb people are.
As for competition - whatever happened to freedom of choice.

I'd never pay that much for a phone if it was locked to one network, on old technology that will cost at least £899 over 18 months - you can buy a laptop and a 2 year limitless data connection for that much, twice over!

Marios Patrinos, Reading, UK

I have just received SPAM advertising iPhone from Digital Direct, whom I've already complained about to the Information Commissioner's Office. I'm not certain (the information appears to have been removed from their website) but I think they may be a subsidiary of Carphone Warehouse.

I used to be an unpaid Apple evangelist, but frankly, if they are prepared to be associated with persistent spammers as business partners in the UK, my loyalty, already eroded by recent problems with their products, has evaporated completely.

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

You know you need to stand back, take stock and re-evaluate your life when you judge what other people do with their own bloody time, and their own bloody money. Worry about yourself.

Happy Camper, San Francisco, CA USA

You know you need to stand back, take stock (questionable choice of words, here) and re-evaluate your life when you are posting to technology forums.

Mohamed Barlow, Chester, UK

You know you need to stand back, take stock and re-evaluate your life when you're prepared to stand in the freezing cold, outside a shop for a bloody phone.

Phill Barlow, The Wirral, England