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Christian Meagher yawned as he did his fifth interview of the morning. Minutes away from being the first person to buy the new iPhone in Canada, he'd been up all night and was having trouble staying excited.

“There was a lot of hype for it – I don't know if it will live up to it,” he said Friday morning as he waited in line at a Halifax Rogers Plus store.

“I think it'll be really cool,” he added. “I'm not trying to be down but I've been up all night. I want to go to bed.”

The 29-year-old employee at the local casino came to the mall after finishing work, at about 2:15 a.m. He said that a recent decision by Rogers Communications Inc. to drop coverage rates sealed his decision to get the phone.

Mr. Meagher was joined a little later by his girlfriend, Cathy MacDonald, who was buying him the phone as a birthday present.

“I was hoping to sneakily get it,” she said. “I didn't realize all of this would be going on.”

The Halifax store sold the country's first iPhones, made by Apple Inc., at 8 a.m. local time. Dozens of people lined up for hours, with Rogers staff leading cheers during the last hour and handing out doughnuts and juice.

“It's a little weird,” admitted Mr. Meagher. “I don't remember my first kiss but hopefully I'll remember this.”

The rest of the buyers waited as he filled out the paperwork for his phone, surrounded by photographers and reporters calling questions.

Third in line was Ryan DeMerchant, who said he hadn't even owned a cellphone before today.

“Basically, I just want an Internet in my pocket, and this is the best one,” he said. “I'm kind of a tech geek, I guess, and I've wanted one since last year when they released it in the United States.”

The crowd had grown to about 60 people by the time the first sale was made.

“The lineup is great,” said Michael Boudreau, regional spokesman for Rogers. “It's not just a phone, it's an amazing, amazing device.”

In Toronto, about 150 people lined up in light rain, with the queue wrapping around the downtown Rogers building at Dundas Square. The first person to buy the iPhone was Jordon Brown, 16, who had been in line since 4 p.m. Thursday.

“I feel so happy I've finally got hold of one of these. I've never felt an iPhone before,” Mr. Brown said, gripping his new phone.

He said his first call would be to a friend who chided him for standing in line all night.

When thunderstorms began about 4 a.m., most customers were partly sheltered by an awning.

Rogers opened the doors at 8 a.m., letting in seven customers at a time. Each buyer initially took about 20 minutes to sign up and pay for the phone. The high volume of registrations across the country was causing technical delays, staff said. They declined to provide numbers.

About 90 minutes later, staff said they might run out of the phones and encouraged customers behind the first 100 in line to visit a different Rogers outlet.

By about 10:30 a.m., shoppers waiting in line started complaining of sore feet and wondering whether they would even get a phone.

Jorge Yue, 18, said he was angry because he came looking for a 16-gigabyte phone, but when his turn came, he was told he would only be able to get an 8-gigabyte phone.

“I can't get a 16-gigabyte phone and I've been here since 1 a.m.,” Mr. Yue said. It costs about $350, after taxes, to buy a 16-gigabyte phone and then another $80 in monthly fees.

It took Jaime Bruce two hours to activate his new iPhone and sign his service agreement and contract because the store's computer system kept crashing. Mr. Bruce, 21, joined the line at midnight, hoping to have his phone in hand by 10 a.m. Friday.

“I'm supposed to be at work right now,” he said at 12:15 p.m. as he rushed off to his job at Princess Margaret Hospital, moments after receiving his iPhone.

Customer Adam Smith, who uses Rogers for cable, Internet and phone service, called the launch a failure.

“I feel let down by the company I already pay way too much money to,” he said. Mr. Smith, who works for a web-design company, booked the day off a month ago.

“I'm really upset they didn't make any announcement about the stock levels,” Mr. Smith said.

Anthony Fralick, a director at a pharmaceutical company, also took the day off work and joined the queue at 6 a.m. He said he was getting anxious about his prospects.

“I'll be pretty disappointed,” he said. “I could have gone to a different store at 6:15 a.m.”

Noah Kirschenbaum, 23, said he was “disgusted” that he may not be able to get an iPhone even though he had been in line since 4 a.m.

“I've been misled,” Mr. Kirschenbaum said.

John Boynton, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Rogers Wireless, said Canada has received “more than its fair share” of iPhones and that the phone is starting to sell out across the country.

“There is no agenda to hold back inventory,” Mr. Boynton said. He declined to provide specific numbers.

Maad Mian, 19, waited in line for almost 13 hours. He said he was irked that Rogers was not offering an unlimited data plan.

“I do have a problem with it, but what can I do -- I really wanted the iPhone,” he said.

Allan Sorensen, 60, said he is most looking forward to taking photos and updating his blog from the palm of his hand. His son purchased an iPhone from the U.S. earlier this year, and Mr. Sorensen said he has wanted one since. “It's a work of art, with such intuitive software,” he said.

Some customers said they were looking forward to using the faster Internet network that lets the iPhone run smoother and faster than other smartphones.

Ian Labelle-Stackhouse, a 39-year-old teacher, had been in queue since 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

“I am probably too old to be camping out overnight,” he said.

Mr. Labelle-Stackhouse said he is particularly looking forward to using the GPS function. He already owns nine iPods.