AP Photos Customers wait in line to purchase the new iPhone 4S in view of a makeshift memorial to deceased Apple co-founder Steve Jobs outside of an Apple store Friday in Philadelphia.

AP Photo Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak holds up his new Apple iPhone 4S at the Apple store in Los Gatos, Calif., Friday. Wozniak waited 20 hours in line to be the first Apple customer at the store to buy the new iPhone.

Elliott Johns of Boston displays an iPhone 4S in front of an Apple Store location in Boston Friday. The faster iPhone with better software and an improved camera went on sale in seven countries Friday as hundreds of buyers camped out for hours to be among the first to get one.

NEW YORK — It wasn’t just the latest iPhone that drew people to Apple stores Friday.

Many consumers waited in lines for hours — sometimes enduring chilly temperatures and overnight thunderstorms — to remember Steve Jobs, Apple’s visionary who died last week.

The company’s first iPhone release since Jobs’ death turned into another tribute. Some customers even joked that the new model 4S stood “for Steve.”

Tony Medina, a student from Manhattan, stood outside Apple’s flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue for nine hours, waiting through rain. He had originally planned to order the phone online but decided to join a crowd of about 200 people to honor Jobs.

“For loyalty, I felt I had to do the line,” he said. “I had to say thank you.”

The new phone, which went on sale Friday in seven countries, is faster than the previous model and comes with better software and an improved camera. Yet the unveiling comes at a time when Apple is finding it difficult to maintain the excitement of previous iPhone introductions.

For starters, the phone is more widely available than in the past. In addition to Apple stores, it’s also sold by three wireless carriers: AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless. Some Best Buy, Target and Walmart stores also carry the phones, as do authorized resellers.

Buyers were also able to preorder the phone on Apple’s website and have it shipped to their homes or offices.

Many diehard Apple fans and investors were disappointed that Apple did not launch a more radically redesigned new model — an iPhone 5. It’s been more than a

year since Apple’s previous model was released.

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