IPhone 4S: All's quiet in downtown SF

We know that the UK is firmly entrenched in iPhone mania, but in the US consumers don't seem to be nearly as excited about getting their hands on the latest Apple handset.

V3 paid a visit to Apple's famous Union Square retail location to check out the crowd and there wasn't a single iPhone camper to be found outside the store by mid-day on Thursday.

With the handset slated to arrive at 8am on Friday, it is entirely possible that customers could show up in the evening and through the night, but to see nobody parked in front of the store with less than 20 hours before the release is something of a departure.

It's a big difference to what was seen in London, where Apple fans have been queueing for days to get their hands on the new smartphone. You can't use weather as an excuse, it was a beautiful 28 degrees and sunny today in the city by the bay.

It does seem that the novelty of waiting in line these days has worn off a bit. New iPhone releases come every year and with Apple's improved manufacturing chain, shortages rarely last more than a few days.

On top of that, pre-orders of the iPhone 4S have shattered records, particularly here in the US, where carriers such as AT&T moved hundreds of thousands of units in the first day of pre-orders alone.

Whatever the reason, the iPhone queues in San Francisco just ain't what they used to be...