It may have been five months late. Yet, the arrival of the iPhone 5 to Malaysian shores still excited Apple fans in the country.

Some 1,000 people who attended the Maxis Berhad’s countdown event at Pikom ICT Mall in Cap Square yesterday did not mind queuing for hours just to be among the first to get their hands on the phone.

36-year-old Wong Tee Wee who was the first to receive the phone said it was a double celebration as it coincided with his birthday.

"I waited here since 10am and since it’s already passed midnight, this is the best belated birthday present ever," said Wong who has been a fan of the brand since four years ago.


Wee (C) the first to get the iphone5

“I had previously purchased the iPhone 3G followed by iPhone 4 two years later. Now I'm very excited to use the iPhone 5 and the first application that I want to use is the camera because I want to capture tonight's event.

Another excited fan was Mohd Syahril Abdul Razak, who was the fifth person to receive the phone.
Mohd Syahril, a financial adviser, said he has been a fan of Apple products from the time he first purchased the iPhone 3GS in 2009.

"Every year I'll change and upgrade my phone. I have an iPhone 4, 4S and now 5. I keep changing and upgrading simply because it's the iPhone. The other reason is that the processor is faster and the camera has the panorama feature," said Syahril.


iPhone fans queuing outside Cap Square yesterday

Noor Ashraaf Noor Azman, also a financial advisor, was also over the moon with his new purchase.

"The first thing I'm going to do is download WhatsApp and also Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram,” said the 27-year-old social media addict.

He however admitted that he was slightly disappointed with the phone’s late arrival.

"We're still excited but the hype has died down since it's already December. I was excited when the phone launched in September in the US and even watched the live telecast of the official launch of the phone there," Noor Ashraaf said.

Apple managed to sell 5 million units of the iPhone 5 just three days after it was launched in September 2012 in the US.