The hopeful shoppers gathered outside the country’s Tango headquarters in Bertrange, until the phone’s special midnight launch.

The first satisfied customer was finance worker Sandra Caetano, 30 from Dudelange. When she emerged from the shop clasping the latest Apple mobile technology she told News352 that she began queueing at 6pm.

"I am on holiday and this is the first iPhone I’ve ever bought so I didn’t mind waiting. It feels really nice to have it. I can’t wait to get it home and start downloading apps."

The second customer was Christophe, also from Luxembourg, who wanted to replace his iPhone3 after it was stolen while on holiday in Barcelona.

Other customers waited patiently in line for their turn. Shopper Elio Mastrangelo said: "I heard about the launch by text. I bought the iPhone 3 about a year and a half ago. I thought the functionality was better on the new one so thought I would come down and try to get one."

David Moss said: "I want to get an iPhone 4 so that I can keep up with the latest technology. I also want one so that I can listen to music when I go on holiday."

Tango was the first mobile phone provider in Luxembourg to begin selling the phone, offering only 100 pieces at Thursday’s special launch.

On Friday its stores opened at 7am to serve the 500 customers who pre-ordered. While other shoppers were able to buy theirs from 9am.Tango Sales and Marketing Director Louis Camara told News352 : "We are all very happy that customers joined us for this event. We’ve worked very hard to be the first to launch the iPhone 4 in Luxembourg."

Altogether Tango had more than 1,000 phones available in stores around Luxembourg on Friday.