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Apple's iPhone 5 draws crowds as it launches in 22 more countries

The iPhone 5 went on sale in 22 more countries on Friday, making it now available in a total of 31 nations around the world, in Apple's most aggressive launch schedule ever.

The list of countries where the iPhone 5 launched on Friday is: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

They join the 9 countries where the iPhone 5 debuted a week ago: the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

As can be seen in the included videos, customers queued up around the world to be among the first to get their hands on the iPhone 5. The handset features a taller 4-inch display, Apple's improved A6 processor, and the new, smaller Lightning connector port.

By December, the iPhone 5 will be available in a total of 100 countries with 240 carriers. The device is expected to become Apple's best selling product ever, and it already sold a record breaking 5 million units in its launch weekend alone.

In addition to 22 new countries, the iPhone 5 also launched Friday on a number of regional carriers in the U.S. They include Cellcom, nTelos, Appalachian Wireless, C Spire, GCI, and Cricket Communications.

A number of these carriers — Cellcom, nTelos and Appalachian — have cut $50 off the normal retail price, allowing on-contract buyers to obtain an iPhone 5 for $149 for the 16-gigabyte model, $249 for 32 gigabytes, and $349 for 64 gigabytes.

The fact that the iPhone 5 is debuting in so many places on Friday is particularly noteworthy to investors in AAPL stock. The company's September quarter ends on Saturday, which means the aggressive launch schedule will help boost sales for the current quarter.