Apple CEO Tim Cook promised during the last earnings conference call that the iPhone 5 would be available in 100 countries worldwide by the end of year and the recent December 21 launch of the phone in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Caribbean helped the company reach that milestone.

According to Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Apple 2.0, Apple's latest handset quietly debuted in St. Kitts, Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, St. Lucia, St.Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Uganda. Apple didn't announce this end-of-the-year roll out, but one local report suggests the launch of the phone was greeted with a small line of eager customers.