Technology editor David Gilbert braved the elements, joining the Apple fans by queuing up for the iPhone 5 at Apple's flagship London Store on Regent's Street overnight. Here's what happened:

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[Thanks to Cotswold Outdoor for the loan of a tent and sleeping bag, without which I don't think I would have survived]

Read out full, in-depth iPhone 5 Review here.

11:25: Finally on this blog, here's the iPhone 5 in all it's glory. Initial reaction is that is an amazing piece of engineering above anything else, and is so light and thin, it makes the iPhone 4S look a phone from the 1980s. Check back soon for a full review of the iPhone 5 and a feature detailing my experiences in this queue with some video.

11:10: I have to say that the Apple Store experience was genuinely strange. Being clapped, whooped and high-fived into the store is not something I've experienced before and probably won't ever again. Some people loved it, some didn't and some (like me) didn't know what to do. Here's some pictures:

Cheerleaders....

Should they not be doing some work....

11:00: Back in the office eventually (via a lovely breakfast courtsey of Griffin Technology) and I managed to get my iPhone 5. And here it is:

7:45: Queue now being told to pack up all our gear and prepare for explosion of fun that is paying over £500 for a phone....

7:40: On a lighter note, here are some people playing cards while waiting patiently for the store to open.

7:35: With just 25 minutes to go, people are beginning to get excited (I have yet to feel the buzz) and more and more journalists are milling around asking why people have been queuing out all night. I can tell them that for the majority, it's purely financial

7:30: The queue is now going down Regent Street, up Hanover Street, winding around Hanover Square and now has spilled over onto the street. My estimate? Well over 1,000 with everyone buying two phones it seems. Pretty sure the iPhone 5 will sell out here.

7:25: Spoke to a couple of Apple Store employees whoare handing out tickets, asking if they will have enough iPhone 5s for eveyone. Their answer: "We've no idea."

7:20: Just spoke to the two guys at the front who have been queuing since last week, Richard Wheatcroft and George Horne, a couple of friends who are in the queue to promote their social enterprise CrowdFuelled. They're looking remarkably fresh for two guys sleeping outdoors for the last week.

7:00: ONE HOUR TO GO.....surprisingly I'm not feeling that tired or delirious, just a bit drained.

The 13 hours so far has gone pretty quickly though which is definitely a good thing.

6:51: Starbucks has arrived with coffee for us.....thank god.

6:47: Turf wars kicking off as one group behind us is trying to get the Latvian queue jumpers kicked out. They are not looking happy.

6:43: Really disappointed in the level of insults received through the night by passers-by. Was hoping for some interesting, creative comments, but it seems they are mostly reserved for online forums.

6:42: Everyone's new best friends, the Apple Store staff handing out the iPhone chits.

6:15: Despite Apple and its hoard of Nazi stewards, queue jumping is alive and well. I am now surrounded by a quarter of the population of Lativa...it's very big business apparently.

And from speaking to people in the queue overnight, the overwhelming majority of people are not queuing to buy iPhones for themselves, but simply to sell them on at a profit in countries where the new model is not available yet.

6:10: Tickets in hand. Now just the final two hours to wait....

5:45: Just being issued with tickets for our phones. Everyone can only get two. I'm getting one black 32GB and one white 16GB in case you were wondering...

5:40: Just went to have a look at the queue and it seems while I nodded off, half of London has joined the queue....

5:06: So I'm back and having got a couple of hours sleep was woken up by that nice man Christer from Sweden with some hot chocolate.

While drinking my hot chocolate I've been discussing with another of my fellow queues about the connection between Appleand religion.

Albert originally from Latvia but living in London for the last eight years, believes this long winding queue, snaking its way along Hanover Street and onto Regent's Street towards the Apple Store is symbolic of the snake in the Garden of Eden tempting Adam and Eve.....it's very early but I think he's onto somerhing.

23:36: Take care of yourselves for now, and I'll be back in a few hours (hopefully after a little bit of sleep) with more crazy goings on from the never-ending fun that is an iPhone queue.....

23:36: Finally for now, here are a couple of 'experts', safely tucked up in their beds before 11pm. I hope one day to be able to queue like these professionals......well, actually, no I don't. I never want to queue overnight for an iPhone, iPad or anything ever again.

23:35: Next up are these cool cats, just kicking back on Regent Street, queuing for an iPhone, playing some Monopoly....as you do.

23:30: First up are the guys at the front of the queue who have been here since last Friday....Dedicated or crazy? You decide (but the obvious answer is they are simply nuts.)

23:00: Right time for some photos from tonight. First up, here's a rather scary looking Apple Store employee who doesn't look like he's happy to be working at 11pm at night.

iBigfoot?

22:50: Like animals we have been moved and corralled into what I am calling the MAZE. It's like being treated like a labratory mouse.....but one with a lot of money...

22:00: The cold is beginning to bit so I reckon its time to get into my sleeping bag (courtsey of Cotswold Outdoor). If only I could type with my gloves on it would make is so much easier.

21:35: People seem obsessed with videoing and photographing the queue. People keep walking up and down the queue videoing it. Seems a bit odd, but then again I'm probably going to do it in a bit....but I'm a journalist so it's ok, right?

21:30: Also the snipe comments so far have been limited to the likes of: idiots, fools, nerds, and one clown. Hopefully people will get more creative as the night goes on...

21:17: Whoever Apple has employed to put these barriers which have penned everyone in could have done with a course in basic manners. Or to put it another way, they are complete morons...

21:00: They are corralling us in with metal barriers. It will now really feel like we are in a zoo with all the by passers staring at us...

20:20: That man is Christer Malmberg from Stockholm who flew into London today and is flying back out tomorrow with an iPhone 5 in his pocket.

He seems like a very nice genial man who has two small children back in Sweden. So what then made him travel all the way to London for the launch of a phone? Well that is the $64,000 question and one which I can't answer just quite yet.

Apple opened its first retail store in Stockholm last week and when the staff tried to do the American thing of cheering and trying to get the crowd involved it fell flat on its face, as you can see here....

20:14: Here's a man from Sweden who has flown here just to buy an iPhone 5 being interviewed for TV. Obviously the iPhone 5 must not be coming to Sweden for a long time right? Yeah, it's not launching for a whole 7 days....SEVEN DAYS.

20:09: First up I met Oleg, a man from Latvia who has come from his home country for the launch of the iPhone 5 and is queuing with a couple of his friends. He's not however queuing to buy a phone from himself but for people who have preordered the phones back in Latvia. He and his friends also have orders from people in Russia which Oleg says is a much more interesting market.

When we asked Oleg how much he will get for his iPhone 5s, he said it depended on a lot of factors including how good the phone is and how much interest there is in it.

Oleg said the iPhone 5 won't be released in Russia for a number of months making it a lot more desirable. This is Oleg's fourth time queuing for an Apple product...

20:00: Sorry for the delay in updating but I have been chatting to some of my fellow queuers....with some interesting stories to tell.....

19:19: Getting cold and dark now.....the inital buzz has quickly worn off....oh well

19:13: Apple must be expecting things to kick off big time as security is being beefed up big time

Don't mess...

19:12: Most of the comments so far have been more questions about what is going on rather than anything nasty, but as the night goes on I imagine that to change.

19:00: The time is flying by here on Regent Street, just the 13 hours to go now...still lots of strange looks....

18:55: Apparently I'm number 59 in line for an iPhone 5 tomorrow here in Regent Street. Which essentially means I'll be getting the 117 and 118 iPhone 5 from this store as everyone is allowed to buy just two.

18:52: Not feeling too bad after seeing Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, has joined a queue in the US.

18:50: I have just realised that I am a complete Apple-vacuum at the moment. I'm using an Acer laptop and tablet and a Samsung Galaxy S3. I'm not sure I'm going to be welcomed....

18:45: I have to admit to feeling seriously self conscious sitting in a camping chair on a pavement in the middle of London with people walking by staring are everyone queuing up. Very odd indeed.

18:40: So far there is only around there are only around 50 people queuing up but more joining every minutes, as they leave work I guess.

18:25: And we're finally here. After a bit of problems with Wi-Fi and where we were set up in the first place, we are now in place and ready for the next 14 hours of fun.

Home for the next 14 hours here just off Regent Streeet in the middle of London.

16:28: OK people, I'm off to collect my chair and sleeping bag and then heading to Regent Street to join the party.

16:21: Disaster has been averted. Thanks to Cotswold Outdoor I have managed to secure something to sit on and something to sleep in for the night.

16:00: I will be continuing this blog throughtout the evening, (and if I can't sleep, through the night) until the doors open tomorrow morning at 8am. Please feel free to get in touch with any comments, or opinions and if anyone wants to bring me some coffee or soup, that'd be great too.

15:35: Earlier this week we spoke to the really dedicated people who have been queuing at the Regent Street store since last Friday, a full week ahead of the launch. It seems as if charities and marketing companies are looking to cash in on the Apple appeal.

15:05: I'm still in the IBTimes UK offices in Canary Wharf in London, preparing myself for the 14-hour stint sitting in a camp chair on Regent Street with a load of people I don't know, all waiting for a shop to open.

I thought it would be worthwhile explaining the reasoning behind this seemingly odd choice of entertainment for a Thursday evening.

Ever since Steve Jobs came back to Apple in the late 1990s and led the company from tech infamy to become the world's most powerful and valuable company, people have flocked to the brand as if it was some kind of pagan deity.

The launch of the iPhone and iPad saw this fanaticism grow to new levels and while queuing outside Apple Stores had happened sporadically before the iPhone, it was this and the iPad which saw Apple queuing become a competitive sport.

As new iPhones and then iPads were released, it was clear that the people queuing outside stores for the latest Apple launch were the same ones who queued up the year before - and will probably be the same people queuing up tonight.

People mock these people, saying they have no life and asking don't they have better things to be doing with their lives?

But having talked to these people at previous launches I always found them articulate and interesting to talk to for the most part (though maybe not at 7am in the morning after spending the last 6 days sleeping on the street).

Therefore I decided that to find out exactly what makes them queue up on the street in the cold and wet, rather than simply clicking a button online to pre-order one, I had to go and spend the night with them and experience exactly what it feels like to be an Apple fanboy.

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