It could be due to the ability to pre-order the iPhone 3GS that lines for the new iPhone were shorter than previous long lines with other iPhone introductions. Wired reported that the line in for the downtown San Francisco Apple store was short and sweet this morning at 150 people which was shorter than last year.

The Apple ad says the iPhone 3GS is up to twice as fast and perhaps the lines were twice as fast as last year.

Line-waiters were divided by employees between people who had reserved an iPhone and those who had not.

CNET reported 20-40 in iPhone 3GS  lines around 4:00 am the grew faster at 6:00 am. Twitter tweets showed smooth pick-up. Analysts note that the iPhone 3GS was not as big as improvement to the iPhone as previous versions. SeattlePI reported that in Seattle there was a mix-up and not all people who reserved an iPhone 3GS were allowed in the reserved line.

Activation of the new iPhone 3GS did create problems. Althoug Apple released its software update earlier to save servers for new iPhones. New iPhone owners have gotten this message "Your activation requires additional time to complet. Due to the current volumes, it may take up to 48 hours to resolve your issue." Information Week reports that the problem appears to be better than the server overloads that occurred during the release of the Apple iPhone 3G last year.

Evironmentalists should approve that the new iPhone 3GS is much smaller than the original iPhone box.