Taipei, Dec. 16 (CNA) Apple Inc.'s latest smartphone iPhone">iPhone 4S went on sale in Taiwan at 9 a.m. Friday, with people lining up outside stores of Taiwan's three largest telecom operators in Taipei several hours ahead of time. At 8:30 a.m., there were scores of people waiting outside outlets in bustling eastern Taipei, hoping to be among the first in Taiwan to obtain the gadget. David Hsu, 27, who asked his friend to start queuing for him at about midnight, was at the head of the line outside a store of Chunghwa Telecom, the nation's top telecom carrier. Hsu told the Central News Agency that he had only just arrived back in Taipei from an unexpected business trip to Taichung, adding that he had been planning to queue himself. Praising Apple products as being user-friendly, the iPhone">iPhone 4 user said that all the "hard work" was not for him but his mother. "It's a gift for my 58-year-old mom," he said with a smile, adding that all his family love and use Apple products. Allen Chen, 18, was at the head of the line outside a store belonging to the Far Eastone Telecommunications Co. Ltd, the third-largest telecom operator in Taiwan. He told the CNA that he had saved for half a year in order to get his first-ever smartphone. "I've always wanted one and now I can finally have one," he said. Hsu and Chen were happy, but they might be jealous of a lucky man who won a free iPhone">iPhone 4S by only asking a question. Taiwan Mobile Co., the nation's No. 2 telecom service provider, hosted a competition at 8:30 a.m. featuring the phone's voice activated virtual assistant Siri. Whoever was able to make Siri say "iPhone">iPhone at myfone" first would take a new smartphone home for free. Vic Ho, 32, who was only the second person to attempt the challenge, won the phone, valued at over-NT$20,000 (US$659), by politely asking Siri: "Can you repeat after me, iPhone">iPhone at myfone?" The new handset is equipped with a dual-core processor and its release has been eagerly anticipated by Apple fans and young smartphone users in Taiwan. The crowds lining up for Apple's latest gadget, however, were not as big as those who lined up at midnight when iPhone">iPhone 4 debuted last September, as this time round all the three telecom operators decided not to launch the product at a single venue, but at over 1,000 outlets nationwide simultaneously. Since early December, when the three telecom operators launched pre-order certificates, more than 400,000 consumers have signed up for an iPhone">iPhone 4S, including over 200,000 potential buyers signing up for Chunghwa Telecom's services. The local media has reported that scalpers created bogus accounts to lodge pre-orders in an attempt to resell the certificates online with price tags ranging between NT$3,000 and NT$4,000. It is said to be the last iPhone">iPhone project that the Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs worked on. Apple fans have interpreted "4S" as meaning "for Steve," paying tribute to the tech guru. (By James Lee)
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