SOUTH PORTLAND – Apple devotees gathered before dawn outside the Maine Mall to be among the first to buy the latest cool gadget — the iPhone 5.

Buyers lined up as early as 5 a.m., matching a performance seen across the U.S. and eight other countries as the new smartphone went on sale amid cheers and clapping by Apple employees.

The line in the South Portland mall had disappeared by late morning, but shoppers still walked out of the Apple store with smiles and bragging rights while clutching their shiny new phones.

“I’m addicted. It’s the cat’s meow,” said Art Banister, 71, of Cape Elizabeth. “I use it all the time — the news apps, music, email, texting. I’m going through my third childhood.”

Banister said he likes the service Apple provides, as well as the bigger 4-inch screen of the new smartphone.

The iPhone 5 costs $199 for the entry-level device if customers sign up for a two-year wireless contract. It also is thinner, lighter, has a better camera and more powerful processor and can work on faster “fourth-generation” wireless networks.

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The updated operating system includes new mapping software that replaces Google Maps, but the new mapping program has received early criticism from analysts for some glitches.

“I’m so naive about the latest and greatest. I’m just a little consumer who hangs out in life and plays on the phone,” said Banister, who also owns an iPad tablet.

The iPhone hoopla in South Portland was muted compared to places such as Tokyo, where some people waited in line for six days, while others dressed in homemade iPhone costumes. In Paris, about two dozen current and former Apple employees demonstrated to demand better fringe benefits.

“Apple has really, really done a good job of putting together a faithful, devoted following. People identify with Apple like they identify with their hometown,” said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University.

“Standing in line for an upgraded phone — there’s a social element, a status symbol to it — to have the experience of being there. It’s like showing up at midnight to buy the Harry Potter book. The devotees have to get the iPhone today.”

At the Maine Mall, about 100 customers were already lined up behind velvet ropes, sipping free coffee, when the store opened at 8 a.m. Police were on site in case of any mayhem, but the scene was subdued.

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Ryan Stanton, 29, a student from Standish, had called the Apple store ahead of time to see if phones were still available before he made the trek to the mall. He had an iPhone 4 for two years, skipping the upgrade to the iPhone 4S, before buying the iPhone 5.

“Other phones may have cooler features — you can touch them together and share data — but this has the operating platform I want,” Stanton said. “The bigger screen is cool, and the slimness of it.”

Pre-orders for the iPhone 5 began last week, with 2 million ordered within the first day, but Friday was the first day the new phones were available in stores. Friday sales began in Australia and churned through Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Germany and the U.K., finishing in the U.S. and Canada.

Analysts have estimated that Apple will ship as many as 10 million new iPhone 5s by the end of September — with sales limited only by supply constraints. The phone will be available in 100 countries by the end of the year.

“Apple has hypnotized large segments of the marketplace so that people are willing to wait for days just to have one,” said independent technology analyst Jeff Kagan.

“It’s a psychological thing that’s going on. Apple reverses the process — they don’t listen to customers. They think customers don’t know what they want until Apple gives it to them.”

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Despite Friday’s worldwide frenzy for Apple’s iPhone, Android still tops the smartphone market in the U.S., with 52.2 percent of the market at the end of the second quarter, compared with 33.4 percent for Apple, according to research firm comScore.

Shares of Apple gained $1.39 to close at $700.09, pushing the company’s market value to about $656 billion.

“Apple has somehow managed to maintain a cool factor and a following. It’s got a folk-like culture — that people are standing in line for it is filled with paradoxes,” Syracuse University’s Thompson said.

 

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

Staff Writer Jessica Hall can be contacted at 791-6316 or at:

jhall@mainetoday.com

 


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