In London's West End, Apple fanboys could queue up in three locations to get their hands on the second coming of Steve Job's Jesus Phone, although computer problems threatened to leave customers empty-hearted.

Around 200 hundred people, mostly blokes, queued at Apple's flagship store in Regents Street and while doors opened at 8am in the morning, two hours later, people had still not managed to leave the shop with an iPhone as O2's computer system buckled under the strain of a flood of registrations. And nothing to do with O2's activation process allegedly working only on Internet Explorer (something a Mac no longer has on its desktop). People who buy the phone also have to sign a contract in order to take the thing away.

However, by lunchtime, things began to get going again, but at a trickle. A spokeswoman for O2 said that technical issues connecting customers in the Apple store had meant that orders weren't being fulfilled as quickly as hoped.

"We can confirm that Apple stores are having technical issues connecting to O2 systems," O2 said in a statement. "The systems are currently working but quite slowly. We are working to get the systems back up to full speed as quickly as possible."

Around the corner on Oxford Street at O2's main shop, around 100 people (again mostly blokes)  had queued in the dreary July weather to get their mitts on the phone. The mobile operator warned that some customer would remain disappointed as they would have to wait until August for a new Apple-based phone as supplies were still limited.

Further down the road at the Carphone Warehouse, just around the corner from a lovely Cornish Pasty shop, healthy queues also lined up to get the new iPhone.

As for getting an iPhone yourself, wait a week, there'll be loads then!

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