The original designs for iPhones and Android devices looked quite different from what we know today. Fortunately, none of them actually hit the market.

Gone would be the giant touch screens and virtual keyboards we currently use. In its place, we would have been typing with Blackberry-esque physical keyboards and spinning classic iPod click wheels.

The blueprints for the original Android device concepts emerged during the ongoing Oracle trial. According to reports from the courts, the "Google Phone" would have been outfitted with a physical keyboard, a 200MHz processor, a 2-megapixel camera and QVGA display.

The people at Apple, meanwhile, considered an iPhone with a similar design to the classic iPod. Former Apple Senior Vice President Tony Fadell recently said the company had considered launching the iPhones with click wheels and a physical keyboard.

"The biggest problem with the 'iPod+phone' was we had a little screen and this huge hardware wheel," Fadell explained on an episode of the On the Verge podcast.

The time of the click wheel has long passed but it is interesting to imagine a world where the virtual keyboard never took off. Without touch screens we most likely would have never seen the giant and high definition displays we're used to.

So next time your writing an email on your iPhone or Android device just remember your experience could have been quite different.

The launch of a new Apple product is always accompanied by the inevitable queue, with eager fans getting in line outside stores around the world to ensure they can say they were one of the first to get hold of whatever new shiny device the firm is selling.

The new iPad was no different, with some fans getting in line last weekend, although most had a far more casual one night sleepover on the cold, hard, unforgiving concrete of Regent's Street.

When V3 popped along this morning to see what was going on we came across the usual mix of the weird and wonderful, which we've documented below in photographic glory, because a picture is worth a thousand words...

Apple teased the assembled queuers by putting a solitary device tantalisingly within reach behind a thin-sheet of glass.

Meanwhile, the world's media (sort of) continued to gather to try and get a spot to snap those on the other side of the barriers. V3 had arrived at 7:30am, so had no such trouble bagging a top spot.

Eventually, as the clock ticked around to 8am, the crowds were let in, to huge cheers and applause from Apple's blue-shirted staff. Some people going into the store to buy the new iPad, already had the new iPad they'd bought at midnight from other locations, and were filming the experience on the device, which was an odd sight.

Things started to get really surreal, though, when a gaggle of clearly-fake air hostesses turned up and started posing with the first few fans through the door. Apple apparently had no issue with this and let it take place without incident.

As if this wasn't enough, one chap then added a giant cat's head to the situation, with wonderfully bizarre results.

While for the on-looking press this was an amusing side-note, for most exiting the store it was a chance to celebrate getting their hands on the device, as first-in-line Zohaib Ali did with style.

Eventually, though, when the dust had settled there's only a few traces left that would hint at the madness that had gone before. No doubt the iPhone 5 launch - or will it be the new iPhone? - will see the whole circus start up again.

Five years ago today, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs stood on stage at the annual MacWorld event and unveiled a device that would transform the mobile phone market forever.

The device was, of course, the iPhone and it kicked the mobile phone industry into a whole new era, with the effects still being felt today as Google, Research in Motion, Microsoft and Nokia have all been forced to play catch-up in the battle for market share.

Jobs knew Apple was on to a winner when he launched the device, arguing it was far ahead of any other device on the market, which at the time meant unattractive, brick-like machines which lacked the sense of fun and style that were the iPhone's trademarks.

"[The] iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is five years ahead of any other mobile phone. We are all born with the ultimate pointing device - our fingers - and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse," he boasted.

Now, of course, Apple is under more pressure than ever from its rivals, particularly from Android-based handsets from manufacturers like Samsung and HTC, but the continued appetite shown for each new device the firm launches, most recently the iPhone 4S, shows it still has a cutting edge in the market.

The next 12 months are likely to be a key time for the market too after the sad passing of Jobs, with Apple expected to unveil the iPhone 5 at some point in the coming year.

A key figure in this development is likely to be the recently knighted Jony Ive, the head of industrial design at the firm and Jobs' "spiritual partner", whose job it is to produce the next wave of devices at Apple with a clear mission to maintain its status as the top-dog in the smartphone industry.

Certainly, if the firm can achieve the same level of success in the next five years with its iPhone devices as it did in the first five, Ive will have proved himself a worthy successor, with a little help from Tim Cook of course.

This time last year Julian Assange was the darling of the internet world as his WikiLeaks organisation began flooding the web with thousands of cables allegedly sourced from a soldier serving in the US army.

One year on and his world has changed dramatically. Assange has been dragged through a court case that saw him extradited to Sweden to face several charges, and he has fallen out spectacularly with his former allies at The Guardian.

Nevertheless, the anti-government campaigner is still beating the drum for more insight into the practices of those in power by claiming that they are covertly monitoring popular social services and devices used by citizens across the world.

Speaking at the launch of a new publication from Wikileaks, Spy Files, looking at firms that supply monitoring systems to governments, Assange said such technology is creating a "totalitarian surveillance state" as popular services are routinely monitored.

"Who here has an iPhone? Who here has a BlackBerry? Who here uses Gmail? Well, you're all screwed. The reality is that intelligence contractors are selling right now to countries across the world mass surveillance systems for all those products," he told those at the event.

The publication contains details on 160 companies that sell such intelligence products, and comes after several nations in the Arab world were accused of such practices in an attempt to quell protests that flared up throughout the year.

While it's probably not the case that the UK government is monitoring every email out there for details on people arranging to go to the pub on Friday night, it's an interesting point to bear in mind as we use digital technologies to run our lives and leave everything we write open to monitoring by unseen agencies.

Some two weeks after downloading a copy of the highly anticipated Steve Jobs biography, V3 finally finished the 600-page epic.

Our initial thoughts on the opening pages were positive. They detail Jobs' upbringing and friendship with Steve Wozniak, and the rest of the book didn't disappoint, offering a wealth of anecdotes and insight into Jobs and his tumultuous life.

Jobs was, it's well known, something of a perfectionist. The book reveals time and again just how manic this perfectionism could be, with Jobs tearing people apart for the slightest design fault and insisting on absolute control on all aspects of production.

Many former colleagues interviewed by author Walter Isaacson recounted this criticism with a sense of injustice that Jobs had to be so ruthless, yet they all admit that his leadership helped them produce some of their best work.

It's a testament to Jobs that, despite his fiercely outspoken personality, he was able to build loyal, dedicated teams that developed some of the most compelling and unique technology products ever produced.

For many, the most interesting chapters will be those that discuss these products, as Jobs and his team, notably Jony Ive who Jobs describes as his "spiritual partner", developed the products that made Apple the most valuable company in the world: the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Jobs is often derided as a trumped up marketing guru, yet the book dispels that myth, explaining, for example, that it was Jobs who hit on the idea of producing an iPod with no screen, which subsequently became the hugely popular iPod Shuffle.

Thankfully, Jobs also saw that the iPod scroll wheel was not a viable system for operating a phone and that a touch-screen device - without a stylus ("God gave us 10 styluses") - was the way to go.

Product genius or not, Jobs was certainly not your everyday chief executive, regularly bursting into tears at the end of fights over product or design issues, insisting on a series of bizarre dietary habits, and with terrible personal hygiene in his early years.

But the book really shines when Jobs' unfiltered voice comes through, offering telling insights on Apple, business negotiations, rivals, friends and family. Isaacson has done a great job of balancing these moments without letting Jobs' voice become too dominant.

Ultimately, the book offers a fascinating insight into Jobs and his role in turning Apple into the world leading firm it is today, and will be of great interest to anyone with more than a passing interest in Apple and its 'God-like' leader.

The Steve Jobs biography is published by Little Brown and is available now.

Apple fans are well-known for their fanatical support for any product the firm unveils, and even the ever-so-slightly underwhelming iPhone 4S has not dampened their enthusiasm, with six people already queuing at the Regent Street store in London.

Five of those in the queue were from iPhone jail breaking group Jailbreak Con who had been in line since Friday last week to ensure they are first to get their hands on what has been described by some as an "iPhone 4 on steroids".

They said they intend to get a 16GB version of the device as Apple's new iCloud service makes any more storage unnecessary. The sixth member of the queue wasn't part of that group but looked content enough enjoying some time with his Macbook.

Meanwhile down at the Covent Garden Apple store, recently the scene of a smash and grab robbery, there were no signs of any queues in progress, just the lone figure of one Robert Shoesmith, who's been camping out for eight days as part of a publicity stunt.

V3 asked Shoesmith if when he first started queueing he had actually been expecting the iPhone 5 to be launched, rather than the subsequently announced iPhone 4S. Shoesmith admitted he had, but added that he intended to get his hands on the new device anyway.

Well, if you've queued for 11 days you need something to show for your efforts. Shoesmith is expecting some company come Wednesday, which will be nice for the poor chap, who was looking a tad sleep deprived and confessed to being a bit bored.

However, he did see some of the excitement of Sunday night when the store was robbed, waking at 1:15am to the sound of bikes buzzing around the area before they zoomed off and the police arriving on the scene. Now that's a jail broken iPhone.

Meanwhile, across town at the Dixons store on Oxford Circus the brand new Kindle 4 was on sale, priced at a low £89 and boasting a new smaller, lighter design as well as a graphical keyboard.

Currys, clearly keen to generate a false buzz of excitement around the launch, breathlessly sent out a press release telling the media it expected to sell of stock within 24 hours.

V3 popped along and spoke with sales staff in the store who looked bemused when asked if they had seen this anticipated rush, saying they didn't think they'd even sold one unit and that there were still 40-odd devices in stock.

When it comes to queues, it appears Apple's got it licked.

Many people were hoping that Apple would debut the iPhone 5 at last night's launch event, but instead were presented with a stop-gap product to keep the faithful happy until the firm's real next-generation handset is ready to ship.

The iPhone 4S adds a dual-core processor that should make the handset more responsive, and is available with a beefier 64GB of storage on the top-end model and a higher resolution 8-megapixel camera for good measure.

But the iPhone 4S is still basically an upgrade; a mid-life kicker for the iPhone 4 aimed at fending off the competition until Apple is ready to unveil the iPhone 5, which is now likely to be sometime early next year.

Likewise, the introduction of a new entry-level 8GB version of the iPhone 4 shows that Apple is starting to feel the heat from Android vendors, which have brought increasingly impressive budget smartphones to market at around the £99 mark in the UK.

Microsoft is also looking resurgent with the Mango update for Windows Phone 7, which has been drawing praise from reviewers and attracting a lot of interest from consumers.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 4S also debuts iOS 5, a new release of Apple's mobile platform that adds a number of new features, including Siri, described by Apple as an intelligent assistant that lets users ask queries using natural language and then attempts to provide an answer.

Apple is shrewdly making iOS 5 available as an update for existing iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS owners, another move that should help pacify those who might consider switching to another handset. However, the firm has cryptically stated that not all iOS 5 features may be available on all products.

Overall, the improvements brought in with the iPhone 4S will no doubt be welcome, but many Apple fans will probably still be disappointed that it isn't a completely new device, while the iPhone itself is starting to look less compelling against new handsets from rivals.

In what will undoubtedly be seen as yet another sign of the shifting global economic sands, China has topped the US in terms of quarterly PC sales for the first time, according to the latest stats from IDC.

The analyst firm recorded shipments of 18.5 million units in the People's Republic in the second quarter of 2011, compared to 17.7 million units in the US. The US is expected to end the year on top thanks to strong festive sales, but China will triumph in 2012 and, given its inexorable growth, for years to come.

IDC predicted that China will ship 85.2 million units compared to the US figure of 76.6 million in 2012, or a market share of 21.8 per cent versus 19.6 per cent.

"China's lead in the PC market is a huge shift that reflects the rising fortunes of emerging markets as well as the relative stagnation of more mature regions," said Loren Loverde, programme vice president at IDC's Worldwide PC Tracker.

"While the immediate economic circumstances in the US and other markets had a significant impact on the timing of China's move into the lead, they have not changed the trend, but accelerated it."

The stats come after a tough few months for the US and eurozone economies. The sovereign debt crisis in Europe is showing no signs of abating, while the US had its AAA credit rating downgraded for the first time in its history, as politicians foolishly turned the economy into a points scoring exercise and failed effectively to address the underlying problems.

It's not a massive overstatement, then, to say that the People's Republic of China has finally taken up its position as the preeminent global economic powerhouse.

This will mean different things for different businesses in different sectors, of course. However, across the board it should reinforce the notion among those who haven't done so already that a Chinese outpost is now a necessity, not a nice-to-have.

Aside from providing a neat little snapshot into the growing wealth of a nation whose economic potential has still not been realised, the growing number of PC users in China will have the pound signs flashing in the eyes of tech entrepreneurs everywhere.

Jeff Kim, COO of CDNetworks, a firm which helps content providers expand their presence in the region, was naturally optimistic of the opportunities that lay behind the IDC figures.

"This is clear evidence that China's growing middle class, already known for its strong consumerism, is also highly computer and internet literate," he told us.

"We see the trend continuing as evidenced by the recent high growth in the amount of web site and application content that we serve to Chinese internet users on behalf of our content provider customers."

The big name vendors have certainly wasted no time. Apple is reportedly building a cheaper version of its iPhone for emerging markets such as China, while Nokia chose Hong Kong on Wednesday as the venue to launch three Symbian Belle-based phones, which it hopes will make a big impact on these markets and help turn around its fortunes.

For those interested in tapping the vast Chinese market, however, there are still big barriers, and businesses would do well to keep their eyes fully open before taking the plunge, as we've highlighted before on Frontline. Hong Kong and Singapore, for example, can provide a useful hub and stepping stone from which to eventually expand operations into China.

However, firms that continue to procrastinate in expanding their bases into Asia and eventually China, in industries from publishing and accounting to finance and technology, will be left behind as their more agile and forward thinking competitors speed past. And rightly so.