Hawai'i was the last place in the world where the iPhone went on sale yesterday, and residents and visitors were ready.

With blankets, chairs, plate lunches, laptops and pillows, gadget fiends, Apple loyalists and people wanting to see what the hype was about turned out at Apple and AT&T stores across the island.

At 6 p.m., when the phones went on sale at the AT&T store on Kapi'olani Blvd., about 100 people had lined up outside. Within 40 minutes, all the 8-gigabyte models were gone. Five minutes later, the store was completely sold out, prompting Edward Maruyama, AT&T's director of sales, to break the news to a remaining crowd of about 25 people.

Phil Delfino, 60, was waiting with his son, Ben Hur, 32.

"I'm surprised they sold out," said Delfino, who is visiting from Manila. "The newspapers said they were going to sell 200,000 phones this weekend and 10 million this year. So, where are all the phones?"

The 4-gigabyte and 8-gigabyte iPhone models became available nationwide yesterday, for $499 and $599, respectively. Each phone comes with a minimum $59.99-a-month two-year service plan with AT&T Inc., the iPhone's exclusive carrier.

Maria Stewart, 24, of Waikiki, was the first person to walk out of the AT&T store with an iPhone. In the 12 hours of waiting for the phone, she had found time to go back and forth between the store and Hawai'i Pacific University (a friend held her place in line) to take final exams to graduate.

"I'm really excited to go home and try it out," she said.

Equipped with a wireless phone, 2-megapixel camera, multimedia player and Internet features like e-mail and web browsing, the iPhone is one of the most hyped gadgets in recent memory. The New York Times counted 11,000 print articles on the phone in the last six months and reported that a Google search for iPhone turns up about 69 million hits.

The iPhone's 3.5-inch-wide touch-screen, which serves as a virtual keyboard and is meant to be operated with just the fingers, sets it apart from other phones with keyboards.

"This is a lesson in how to market a product," said Eric Cohen, 36, who was visiting from Los Angeles. Between himself and his brother-in-law, Cohen bought four 8-gigabyte iPhones from the Apple Store at Ala Moana. "I've never seen people so excited about spending $600 on a phone."

"There was a lot of momentum," said Cynthia Luke, marketing manager for AT&T in Hawai'i. "To see the line outside was very nice. We had lines at all of our stores today."

Customers who were not able to buy an iPhone yesterday can visit either of the Apple stores at Ala Moana Shopping Center or Kahala Mall or any AT&T store to place an order, Luke said. Orders are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis nationwide. Luke could not say when the next shipment would arrive.

Fear of being too late compelled the first person in line at the Apple store at Ala Moana to get there at 4:59 a.m. yesterday. Edward Paul, 34, a sales engineer for the Internet service provider PixiNet, said "experience" compelled him to shoot for first. This is hardly his first time waiting in line for an Apple product.

"Based on prior releases at Apple Stores, there's usually a super-long line," said Paul, who — fortunately — lives close to Ala Moana. "You snooze, you lose."

By 8:15 a.m. yesterday, more than 40 people had lined up behind Paul at Ala Moana. By 4:30 p.m., a line of about 130 people stretched past Macy's, around the corner and into the parking lot. Apple store representatives came out to chat and hand out bottled water to those at the end of the line.

At the AT&T Kapi'olani location, where one phone was allowed per person, the line was considerably shorter. Even at 2:00 p.m., there were still only about 25 people waiting.

Many weren't even keeping the phone for themselves.

John Mahgca, 36, of Waikiki got there at 12:30 p.m. and said his boss was paying him $100 to stand in line for him.

"I'm thinking of upping the price because I didn't know the sun was going to be on my back," he said. "At least I can say I participated in getting an iPhone."

"I should have asked my wife to stand in line for me as an anniversary present," said Ken Marcus, 55, an attorney from Kailua who had "bunkered down" one spot ahead of Mahgca.

Alfred Goroza, 35, of Waipi'o Gentry, had arrived at 9:30 a.m. and was planning to sell his phone on eBay as soon as possible.

As of 3:00 p.m., Goroza said, the iPhone was going for $1,300, making standing in line "a small price to pay."

At Ala Moana, Richard Graczyk, 25, who had come prepared with his laptop, had discovered two iPhones on eBay selling for $20,000 each. Graczyk planned to buy two phones, the maximum allowed per person at the Apple store, one of which would go "straight to eBay."

Apple would not disclose how many iPhones were available at launch, and store representatives would not say how many were sold yesterday. The company has set a goal of selling 10 million units worldwide by 2008, gaining roughly a 1 percent share of the cell phone market. The iPhone is expected to go on sale in Europe later this year and in Asia in 2008.

Some were exhausted by the wait — and the hype.

"I feel pretty pathetic," said Cohen, whose family went to the beach while he waited in line. "Now I'll have to spend extra time at the beach to make up for it."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.