The much anticipated iPhone 3G S is finally making its way to customers’ hands this morning.  The doors at Apple and AT&T stores start opening at 7 a.m., but many have been in line much earlier, like previous iPhone releases.  This time is a little different because the iPhone 3G S was available for pre-order before the launch date.  Customers that pre-ordered their iPhone 3G S had the option to pick up their new “Jesus” phone at an AT&T or Apple store today or have it shipped directly to them with a beginning arrival date of June 19th.  The stores were planning to have two lines: paid and paying.

Another difference this year is that Apple released the new OS 3.0 two days earlier than the iPhone 3G S launch.  Last year, Apple released OS 2.0 on the same day as the iPhone 3G launch which caused wide span blackouts of the iTunes activation process.  With every iPhone owner, OG and 3G, hammering the iTunes servers trying to upgrade to OS 2.0 and activate service, iTunes sadly failed miserably.  Many customers, including myself, with their new 3G were not able to get it activated till much later in the day.  I say thank you to Apple for learning from its previous mistakes.

How was your experience in the lines this year?  Is this your first iPhone or have you waited before?  Let us know your experience getting your new iPhone 3G S in the comments.

UPDATE:  Reports are coming in from all over the US that the lines are moving really quickly.  It’s great to see that Apple and AT&T got it right this year.  If you are still in line, stay strong, it will all be worth it.

The iPhone Dev Team has released, on their blog, that they have successfully ported their Yellowsnow carrier unlock to work with the upcoming Apple release of iPhone OS 3.0. The Yellowsnow unlock was developed for the 3G iPhone when OS 2.0 was released. Many users were hoping for this because if you had been using an iPhone 3G on a carrier, other then AT&T, you would not be able to take advantage of the new functionality in the much anticipated 3.0 update, without losing their call function. No worries now apparently; the Dev Team says they will showcase their official/unofficial Yellowsnow Ultrasnow unlock today via a live feed. A member of the Dev Team, MuscleNerd, will twitter the live feed link later this afternoon. If you want to see this first hand make sure you follow @MuscleNerd on Twitter.

I have been locked to AT&T since the release of the OG iPhone and have had no need to use the Yellowsnow unlock, but apparently many have. I have never seen the reason for unlocking the iPhone when AT&T forces your to sign a 2 year contract. Unlocking the iPhone only makes sense if you purchase your iPhone from the plethora sold on Ebay and Craigslist, which apparently a great number of you do.

The Dev Team has also eluded that they are ready to work on an unlock solution for the soon to be released iPhone 3GS. They don’t want you to ask them about it. If they told you, they would have to kill you.

P.S. For the new iPhone 3GS, please don’t expect periodic updates about any progress we have or don’t have. Nothing gives Apple the upper hand like someone tweeting or blogging partial hack results. That’s not how cat & mouse is played That’s how the cat gets fed.

UPDATE:  The Dev team have changed the name of the unlock to Ultrasnow.  Pointing out that the new soft unlock with work with all basebands as long as you are on FW 3.0

iPhone Dev-Team