Customers laugh while greeted by Apple employees as they arrive to purchase the Apple iPhone 5 phone at the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New YorkIBTimes 
An Apple employee hands out an iPhone 5 at an Apple Store in San FranciscoIBTimes 
Apple employees celebrate the release of the Apple iPhone 5 phone outside of the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New YorkIBTimes 
Apple fan Greg Parker departs the Apple Store on 5th Avenue after purchasing an Apple iPhone 5 in New YorkIBTimes 
A customer compares his older iPhone to an Apple's iPhone 5 phone after purchasing one at the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New YorkIBTimes 
Apple employees celebrate the iPhone 5 sales launch in San FranciscoIBTimes 
Customers laugh with each other after purchasing their Apple iPhone 5 phones inside the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New YorkIBTimes 
Kai Lanier plays with his dad's newly purchased iPhone 5 outside an Apple Store in San FranciscoIBTimes 
Frederick Laza joins several hundred people waiting to buy an iPhone 5 outside an Apple Store in San FranciscoIBTimes 
A man, who declined to give his name, sleeps outside an Apple Store shortly before iPhone 5 sales began in San FranciscoIBTimes
Apple iPhone 5 fever has gripped Asia, Europe and North America with scores of customers thronging the iStores to get their hands on the latest smartphone, as it hit the stores on Friday.
iStores witnessed the same scale of enthusiasm in terms of customers' response for iPhone 5 despite the reports of broken iOS 6 mapping system.
Customers are facing terrible experience using Apple's Maps app in the latest operation system iOS6, which is installed in the iPhone 5.
[Read: iPhone 5 iOS 6 Maps App Stocked with Errors]
Apple iPhone 5 on Sep 21 was up for grabs in United Stated, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK. More roll outs in other markets will be on Sep 28.
Apple enthusiasts made a long queue in front of Apple stores, creating a festival like atmosphere.
Apple recorded double pre-orders for iPhone 5 than last year's iPhone 4S. In just 24 hours after it started accepting the advance booking on selected carriers, the pre-order stocks were virtually sold out, forcing the Cupertino-based phone giant to push the expected shipping time by at least four weeks.
[PHOTOS OF CUSTOMERS BUYING iPHONE 5]
Apple said that it received about 2 million pre-orders for iPhone 5 in the first 24 hours.
Apple's thinnest and lightest iPhone ever is expected to shatter sales records in its first release weekend and is speculated to pump in $3.2 billion into the slow moving US economy.
"JPMorgan estimates the phone could provide a $3.2 billion boost to the U.S. economy in the fourth quarter - a boost almost equal to the whole economy of Fiji," reported Reuters.
The new iPhone 5 is available on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon for pre-orders. The subsidised prices of sixth-generation iPhone on the selected carriers will start from $199 for 16GB, 32GB variant costs $299 and 64GB variant GB costs $399.
Meanwhile, the unlocked versions of iPhone 5 are pretty high in price tag. The 16GB variant of iPhone 5 will cost $649, 32GB variant will cost $749 while that of 64GB version is $849.
