Waiting in line for the latest iPhone is by no means a pleasant experience. Sure, Apple often hands out free coffee and cakes, but I’d sooner stroll into the store and straight back out again and pay for my own coffee on the way home. But for millions of us this morning, standing in line is the only way to secure an iPhone 5 on launch day.

That is, if you’re a law-abiding citizen. If you’re not, you might consider breaking into a local carrier store and stealing more than $100,000 worth of iPhone 5 units — just like thieves in Japan did today.

Good morning! If you got in on the preorder crush last Friday within the first hour, you’re probably not even reading these words, but tucked into your warm bed, dreaming of iPhone 5s and dancing Wozzes. If you didn’t, though, we know where you are: camped outside of your local Apple Store in the cold, going absolutely bonkers with anticipation for Apple’s best phone yet.

So line-waiters, this post is for you. Tell us a few things. Where are you? What time is it there? How big’s the line you’re in? And, most importantly, which iPhone 5 are you getting?

Me, I’m getting too rickety in the bones for lines, so I’m waiting for my 64GB white iPhone 5 on Verizon to leave the Fed Ex sorting facility in South Boston. How about you? Let’s talk about it!

Click here to discuss the iPhone 5 in our forums

After boarding a plane to Melbourne, Australia to be one of the first in the whole world to get their hands on an iPhone 5, the folks at iFixit have torn it apart and found that — surprise — the new iPhone seems to actually have been designed with easy repair in mind. Partially, at least.

iFixit rips into new technology like a ten-year-old with a stack of birthday presents. Co-founder Luke Soules flew down to Melbourne, Australia to be one of the first people to own the magical device, with the sole purpose of taking it apart at the MacFixit offices in Australia.

The process itself is well underway, as you can see in the gallery of images below.

The iPhone 5 went on sale in Australia today, and hundreds of folks lined up for the privilege of being some of the first in the country to purchase and own Apple’s latest cultural and technical marvel. Some waited as long as 68 hours for the iPhone 5, competing to be the first person in the world to own an iPhone 5.

If you’re planning on waiting in line for an iPhone 5 tomorrow, be warned: judging by the numbers of people already waiting outside some of the big Apple Stores, the iPhone 5 launch is looking like it’s going to be an absolute zoo. There have never been this many people in line this far ahead of an official Apple product launch, ever. And Apple themselves anticipate long lines outside of their stores “all day long, into the evening.”

The iPhone 5 is almost upon us, and Apple has mandated that all third-party developers start submitting iPhone 5 screenshots in the App Store. Devs with new updates must include screenshots optimized for the iPhone 5’s 4-inch, 1136×640 display.

Many popular App Store apps have already been updated for the iPhone 5 and iOS 6, including the official Facebook app today. There were original concerns that developers wouldn’t have time to get their apps up to date for the iPhone 5, but it looks like updates are rolling out at a fairly rapid pace.

Last year, iPhone 4S pre-orders sold out in 22 hours before shipping dates slipped to 2-3 weeks. This year iPhone 5 pre-orders sold out in 1 hour before shipping moved to 2-3 weeks. Apple is going to sell iPhone 5s faster, and in more volume, than they’ve ever sold anything.

If you didn’t manage to secure a pre-order in time and are facing the prospect of standing in line at the Apple Store to get an iPhone 5 on launch day, you’re probably wondering how early you need to wake up and get in line. There’s not a clear formula on how it all works, and only Apple knows for sure how much stock they have, but the experience of the last five iPhone launches have given us some important information.

iPhone-Garage.de has the first teardown pictures of the iPhone 5, if you want to see Apple’s latest engineering and design miracle at work. Their site is being absolutely hammered now, and it keeps on going down, so we’ve put some of the best images in a gallery below the fold so you can see for yourself. iFixIt will doubtlessly have a more nuanced take, but for right now, all I can say is…man, what a tightly packed phone.

The iPhone 5 pre-orders kicked off last Friday at 12:00 a.m. PST and it only took a few hours for delivery estimates to start to slip well into October. A little perspective – it took nearly a day (approximately 22 hours) for last year’s iPhone 4S pre-sale to begin to run out; the iPhone 5 did the same in about an hour.

Hopefully Apple will be able to keep up with the demand for the iPhone 5. But if not here are a few tips based on what we have learned from past iPhone releases that might help lessen headaches and improve your chances of getting your hands on an iPhone 5 this season.