It took Apple more than six months to build the iPhone but curious gadget fanatics needed only minutes to tear one apart.

Within hours of the first iPhones going on sale in the US on Friday, enthusiasts scrambled to be the first to discover what makes the devices tick, posting photos and videos of disassembled phones on the Internet.

The information is more than just academic.

Apple keeps a tight grip on information about parts suppliers so "tear downs" of its products are closely watched by investors keen to figure out how to place their bets.

In the past word that a particular part was being used in Apple's popular iPod music players has sent that company's shares higher.

"With every new release of an Apple product, the hype and interest ratchets up a notch," said Andrew Rassweiler, an analyst with market research firm iSuppli.

Mr Rassweiler and his team at iSuppli were working through the weekend to catalogue the phone's guts for a report estimating the cost of every component, crucial for figuring how much it cost Apple to make each iPhone.

"We have had more people thrown at it this week than any other previous product," Rassweiler said.

- Reuters

Tags: human-interest  , offbeat, mobile-phones, computers-and-technology, united-states