Early in the morning on Friday, fans, techies and ordinary consumers were lining up for the new iPhone 3GS outside Apple Inc’s flagship store on the Fifth Avenue of Manhatthan, New York. However, the crowd was much smaller than it was last year.

An Apple customer service representative (R) assists a customer with the new iPhone 3GS at the 5th Avenue Apple store in New York June 19, 2009.

A few hundred people were standing in line just before the 7 a.m. opening of the store, compared to the thousands that lined up for last year’s model, the 3G.

However, the faster processor, an upgraded camera and the new function of video-taking still lured many consumers who were eager to experience the new excitement.

“I have been waiting for months for the new iPhone, which could better help me communicate with my friends and the outside world,” said a young man who gave his first name as Ken.

“It’s just like a mini-computer on my palm and I could do almost anything like ordinary computers.”

Apple and AT&T Inc., the phone’s U.S. carrier, took pre-orders online this year, which might be one of the reasons why fewer prospective buyers were standing in line this year, said a staff member who was helping maintain order outside the store.

Apple released its first iPhone model two years ago, and it quickly became a consumer phenomenon.

The second-generation 3G model was released last summer.

Apple has sold more than 40 million units of the iPhone and iPod Touch, which uses the same software.

The U.S. smartphone market grew by 68 percent last year and is projected to grow by 20 percent in 2009 and almost 25 percent next year, according to International Data Corporation (IDC), a market research and analysis firm.

Apple’s App Store has a whopping 50,000 applications available, and a number of its competitors recently launched their own stores in the hopes of catching up. It won’t be easy: BlackBerry’s App World, Palm’s App Catalog, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Catalog and Google’s Android Market have only a fraction of Apple’s offerings.

The latest iPhone also started on sale Friday in other U.S. cities and seven other countries at the same time. U.S. consumers can also purchase them at AT&T stores and Wal-Mart, in addition to Apple outlets.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet