NEW YORK — It wasn’t just the latest iPhone that drew people to Apple stores Friday.

Many consumers waited in lines for hours – sometimes enduring chilly temperatures and overnight thunderstorms – to remember Steve Jobs, the Apple visionary who died last week.

Additional Photos

Apple store employees greet people waiting in line to buy the new iPhone 4S in Omaha, Neb., on Friday. Photos by The Associated Press

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak holds up his new Apple iPhone 4S at the Apple store in Los Gatos, Calif., on Friday. He was first in line at the Los Gatos Apple store after arriving Thursday afternoon.

Apple’s first iPhone release since Jobs’ death turned into another tribute. Some customers even joked that the new model 4S stood “for Steve.”

Tony Medina, a student from Manhattan, stood outside Apple’s flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue for nine hours, waiting through rain. He had originally planned to order the phone online but decided to join a crowd of about 200 people to honor Jobs.

“For loyalty, I felt I had to do the line,” he said. “I had to say thank you.”

The phone, which went on sale Friday in seven countries, is faster than the previous model and comes with better software and an improved camera. The unveiling comes at a time when Apple is finding it difficult to maintain the excitement of previous iPhone introductions.

For starters, the phone is more widely available than in the past. In addition to Apple stores, it’s also sold by three wireless carriers: AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless. Some Best Buy, Target and Walmart stores also carry the phones, as do authorized resellers.

Buyers were also able to preorder the phone on Apple’s website and have it shipped to their homes or offices.

Many die-hard Apple fans and investors were disappointed that Apple did not launch a more radically redesigned new model – an iPhone 5. It’s been more than a year since Apple’s previous model was released.

“People are not as excited about this version as they might have been” if an iPhone 5 came out, said Charles Prosser, a retired teacher and computer technician from Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Even so, hundreds of buyers camped out in front of stores for hours to be among the first to get an iPhone 4S.

Steve Wozniak, who created Apple with Jobs in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976, was first in line at a store in Los Gatos, Calif., having arrived on his Segway the afternoon before. Wozniak, who typically waits in line for new Apple products, said he barely slept Thursday night as he was busy chatting with Apple fans, taking photos and giving autographs.

Wozniak pre-ordered two iPhones. He bought two more Friday.

“I just want to be part of an important event, so I feel it more deeply,” he said.

Many said the event resembled a remembrance of Jobs, who died a day after Apple Inc. announced the new phone.

Apple and phone companies started taking orders for the iPhone 4S Oct. 7. Apple said Monday that more than 1 million orders came in, breaking the record set by last year’s model.

A representative for AT&T said Friday that as of 4:30 p.m., it had activated a record number of iPhones and was on track to double its previous single-day record for activations.

Jobs’ death could be helping sales. Marketing experts say products designed by widely admired figures such as Jobs usually see an upsurge in sales after their death.

The base model of the iPhone 4S costs $199 in the U.S. with a two-year contract. It comes with 16 gigabytes of storage. Customers can get 32 gigabytes for $299 and 64 gigabytes for $399. The phones come in white or black.

The phones also debuted Friday in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Britain. They are coming to 22 more countries by the end of the month.

Besides a better processor and camera, the new phone has a new operating system that allows users to sync content without needing a computer.

It also includes a futuristic, voice-activated service that responds to spoken commands and questions such as “Do I need an umbrella today?”

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