Queues for latest Apple iPhone create final tribute to gadget guru Steve Jobs

Crowds of people flocked to Apple stores around the country to get the must-have smartphone in the wake of the Apple founder’s death last week from cancer.

Hundreds of technophiles were cheered and clapped into Apple’s London Covent Garden store as the doors opened at 8am.

Maria Yasianetskaya, 26, who lives in London, said: “I think it’s touching and is specially connected to this occasion, it’s like the last tribute we can pay (to Steve Jobs).”

The launch of the iPhone 4S came during a torrid week for rival BlackBerry, which sparked widespread anger following a technical failure which left millions of its customers unable to access email or internet services for more than three days.

Duncan Hoare, 42, from Hampstead, was first in the queue and had been camping out since Tuesday afternoon.

Mr Hoare said Mr Jobs’ death was “tragic”, adding: “He will be a huge loss to the world.

“I would have come anyway and I would have bought the phone anyway but I think there’s a lot of thoughts here for him.”

The iPhone 4S, described by its makers as “the best iPhone ever”, has already proved itself to be more popular than any other Apple product, with pre-orders topping one million in a day.