Hundreds buy the iPhone 5 in Paris (pictures)

Mikhail Vorobyev, one of the early customers to buy an iPhone 5 at Apple's store in Paris, shows off his new purchase.

Waiting in line overnight to buy an iPhone 5 is an event to be remembered, not a mere purchase. Here, one customer in Paris uses her older iPhone to take a sweeping video of the line and the store.

Just before the door to the Apple store is the home stretch for several hundred people who came to buy an iPhone 5 at the Paris Apple store.

Anthony Fitch holds the first iPhone 5 sold in Paris Apple stores. He waited in line about 40 hours to get the phone.

The bulk of the line to buy an iPhone 5 at the Paris Apple store wound back and forth between metal barriers.

The press interviews Valentine Nassonov at the arrival of the iPhone 5 in Paris Apple stores.

iPhone 5 customers check out the options at Apple's store in Paris.

Where better to find iPhone accessory customers than an iPhone 5 line? Here a representative for Sculpteo pitches custom iPhone cases that feature a cutout sihouette of the customer's profile.

Laurent Degousee, secretary of the Solidaires Unitaires Democratiques (SUD) union, stands before the Paris Opera house as the iPhone 5 goes on sale in France's capitol. He was trying to encourage new membership, to get Apple to improve working conditions and raise employee pay, and to mark a strike of 40 Apple employees. The strike didn't seem to slow Apple sales.

Representatives and memberes of the Solidaires Unitaires Democratiques (SUD) union were at the iPhone 5 launch in Paris to try to win allies for the cause. This is a box of leaflets explaining a strike at the store that didn't disrupt iPhone sales.

Apple employees applaud iPhone 5 customers as they leave the Apple store in Paris.

Mikhail Vorobyev becomes a minor celebrity for news media gathered to cover the arrival of the iPhone 5 in Paris Apple stores.

The head of the queue of several hundred people who came to buy an iPhone 5 at the Paris Apple store

Bored waiting in the iPhone 5 line in Paris? You can always gaze upon the golden statuary across the road.

Lyres adorn the Paris Opera house across the street from Apple's flagship store in France.

A new iPhone 5 customer emerges from an Apple store in Paris.

Along the side of the Apple store in Paris, the iPhone 5 line stretched back and forth several times, crossed the street, and continued around the next corner.