iPhone Mania Gets Under Way Across Asia

The new iPhone model went on sale in the Asia-Pacific region, with throngs at one Tokyo store counting down the last 30 seconds in unison. The celebration is part of a global rollout in 22 nations of the 3G, or third-generation, wireless connecting iPhone, an upgrade of the model that went on sale last year in the US and several other nations. The phone goes on sale in the US at 8am tomorrow in each time zone.

"This is the year that the cell phone becomes an Internet-connecting machine," said the president of a Tokyo tech store. "Today is that day that will make it real, and it's a historic day." Still, many reviewers say the iPhone is, in fact, behind the curve in relation to the latest cell phones in Japan, though none have the glamor image of the new Apple product. (More iPhone 3G stories.)