By Monica Chen

mchen@heraldsun.com; 419-6636

DURHAM -- It was a long, hot journey to the front of the line.

By Thursday afternoon, Gemma Langeway and Nicole Conover had waited more than 12 hours to get their hands on the iPhone 4, the newest, sleekest version of Apple's popular smartphone to launch in the market.

Like hundreds of others, they had gotten tickets from Apple employees for the phone the night before, camped out with chairs and pillows, and then waited, and waited. And waited some more.

"We didn't think we were going to be waiting here this long," Langeway said.

"Not going to do this again," Conover said. "I've done it now. It's in the books."

Despite problems with advance reservations, an online leak that unveiled most of the new features, and being the fourth version of a product that has gone from being fairly exclusive when it first launched in 2007 to widespread use, the iPhone 4 still made a splash on Thursday for fans of the product.

The line at Apple's store in The Streets at Southpoint stretched around the building and wrapped around the back. People camped out in chairs in what little shade there was, and Apple employees handed out water bottles and umbrellas.

Store manager Brian Goslin said Thursday's launch went smoothly despite a rainstorm that knocked out power at the mall the day before.

The store had put all other operations on hold for the launch, turning away other customers seeking tech support or wanting to take a look at other products.

"It's very mysterious. There's a lot of hype behind it. But you don't know until you get it in your hands," Goslin said. He had already gotten his iPhone 4, wrapped in a sleek black case.

The new iPhones are priced at $199 for the 16 gigabyte model and $299 for the 32 GB model.

Ahmad Hariri, a Durham resident, took the day off from work for the launch.

Hariri had made a reservation on June 15, but still waited for hours in the sun for activation.

When an Apple employee came by to check ticket numbers, Hariri and others joked around with them. "Not going to kick us out, are you?" Hariri said.

Hariri said he had the iPhone 3G, which came out in 2008 and was the second incarnation of the line. The upgrades, such as the new front-facing video chat camera, were enough to prompt him to get a new one.

The video chat upgrade and others were leaked on tech blog Gizmodo.com in April after a programmer with Apple -- an N.C. State University grad -- left a prototype in a beer garden.

Although Apple shut down the prototype remotely and CEO Steve Jobs personally appealed to the site for its return, Gizmodo took apart the phone and analyzed its components, revealing a new camera feature in front, a new camera flash in the back, a flat back, a stainless steel band, new side buttons, and a higher resolution screen.

Langeway, who had waited more than 12 hours in line, said the leak didn't dampen her excitement over the product.

"It increased my interest because you got to see all the new features," she said.

Jeffrey Sinor, a Duke University graduate student on summer break, said he came out because it was an Apple product.

"I love technology," he said. "I wouldn't do this for any other company."