The event knocked several websites -- including www.macworld.com and www.apple.com -- temporarily offline, while slowing down others such as The Wall Street Journal, which offered a live blog of the event.

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Interest in the iPhone announcement on Twitter seemed to eclipse the simultaneous announcement by Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey that he would not run for president.

As Patrick Hackett of Denver tweeted shortly after 1 p.m. EDT: "Is Chris #Christie really trying to occupy the same media time as the #iPhone5 announcement?''