Before the sun even peeked over the horizon Friday, Apple fans – albeit fewer than in previous years – lined up to be among the first to get their hands on the new iPhone 3G S, the third generation of the popular smart phone.

About 30 customers at the Dallas AT&T location at North Central Expressway and Park Lane, 40 in Denton and 72 at the Frisco store joined Apple diehards across the U.S. and in seven other countries who lined up early.

The line that wrapped around the Park Lane AT&T store began forming about two hours before the store's 7 a.m. opening for customers who had preordered. Many were bleary-eyed – one was toting a puppy – but there was obvious excitement.

"I've been in line for about two hours," said Pierre Garman just before the store opened. "I got here early to beat the lines. I'm excited. I'm a big iPhone guy."

An army of AT&T employees waited to greet customers, hold doors, and fetch coffee and doughnuts.

The line of customers was shorter this year than last year, partly because customers could preorder for the first time.

Adam Vital, AT&T's vice president and general manager for mobility and consumer markets in North Texas, said even though the lines appeared shorter, the "virtual lines" of customers preordering the phone were just as long as last year.

"We had hundreds of thousands preorder. The lines were longer last year, but you can't see the many thousands in virtual lines to get the phone," Vital said.

Nancy Powers was out early Friday buying the iPhone for her 17-year-old son. She expected a longer line.

"I thought since I got here at 6:25, I would be way back in the line. I was very pleasantly surprised to see such a short line," she said.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, AT&T said some of its local stores were running low on their initial allotment of phones from Apple, but others were still well-stocked, a far cry from last summer's instant sellout of the iPhone 3G.

AT&T spokeswoman Sarah Andreani said Friday afternoon that it was too soon to calculate how many iPhones were sold on launch day, since most stores hadn't even closed for the day yet.

Analysts expect strong initial sales of the iPhone 3G S but not the tsunami that accompanied last year's launch.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicted Thursday that Apple will sell about 500,000 units of the new iPhone this weekend.

That's only half of what Apple sold during the launch weekend last July for the iPhone 3G But that device launched simultaneously in 21 countries, compared with just eight for the 3G S, and many 3G owners in the U.S. who signed two-year contracts last summer are not yet eligible for the lowest price on the 3G S.

And, if it comes true, that half-million sales estimate will dwarf the estimated 50,000 Pre phones that Palm sold at that device's launch two weekends ago. The Pre is considered one of the first serious competitors to the iPhone in touch-screen phones.

Outside of the holiday season, Vital said, iPhone release day has become the biggest sales day for AT&T.

Over the last three years, it's been sort of a "summer Black Friday."

Vital said that AT&T stores "have a strong inventory to match the expected strong demand" among walk-up customers. He said if stores run out, customers can order the phone and have it within seven to 10 days.

The new smart phone from Apple comes with an upgraded 3-megapixel camera with video capturing and editing capabilities, improved battery life, voice-command control and a built-in digital compass. It costs $199 or $299, depending on the amount of memory, with an available upgrade or two-year contract.

The release of the iPhone went much smoother this year compared with last year, when masses of buyers tried to activate their phones and overloaded Apple's iTunes servers.

Vital said that they had "worked through any potential problems" from their end and that virtually all new iPhone users were walking away with working phones Friday.

Staff writer Victor Godinez contributed to this report.