NEW YORK, NY June 19, 2009 —The newest iPhone went on sale this morning, absent the long lines and hoopla that greeted previous models.

Just a few hundred people lined up as Apple's flagship Fifth Avenue store opened this morning -- a fraction of the people who lined up for last year's model. That launch turned into a debacle when new customers flooded the company's servers trying to activate their phones.

This year, Apple and AT&T Inc., the phone's U.S. carrier, defused the drama by taking pre-orders for the new phone online. The company also released its software updates two days early. There were only scattered reports of problems with that upgrade.