iPhone 5 Release Date September 28 for 22 Countries, from Ireland, Italy, to Spain; India Release Date During Diwali?

Nine countries across four continents are receiving the iPhone 5 today, but a staggering 22 other countries will get hold of the latest Apple smartphone next Friday, Sept. 28.

Apple fans have lined up today, although for many it has been days, in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the United States for the new device.

Click here for an exclusive interview with the first person in line at New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple Store.

The latest of Apple's iPhone series will feature a four-inch Retina Display screen with a resolution of 1,136x640, iOS 6, an eight-megapixel camera on the rear and two-megapixels on the front, A6 processor making the device run twice as fast compared to the iPhone 4S, three microphones on the front, back, and bottom of the device, and the new Lightning Adapter.

The 22 countries that will see the iPhone 5 on Sept. 28 are mostly in Europe and then New Zealand.

The 21 European countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

New Zealand will also see the device on Sept. 28, and will be the first to receive it due to the time zone difference.

Apple Inc. Vice President Phillip Schiller stated, "By the end of this calendar year, we hope to be in a hundred countries, 240 carrier partners around the world. This will be our fastest phone rollout ever."

One of those 100 countries that will eventually get the iPhone 5 is India. Although no release date has been confirmed, it will likely fall during the time of Diwali, a Hindu festival of lights which falls on Nov. 13 this year.

LiveMint and Business Today reported that rumors suggest the release will fall during the holiday and could cost around Rs. 45,000. They also added that India will likely not see the new 4G LTE technology upon the smartphone's release.

Latinos Post has helped define the spec of the iPhone 5, from RAM, Retina Display, to GB, click here to view.

To view a roundup of reviews of the iPhone 5, click here.