Lending more weight to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster's predictions that Apple and AT&T will sell about 500,000 iPhones this weekend, AT&T claims that "hundreds of thousands" of customers preordered the iPhone 3GS before today.According to reports across the Web, the lines at Apple and AT&T stores around the world aren't as long as in years past. One reason? Perhaps many decided to have the phone delivered directly to them rather than bother with the hassle of going to a brick-and-mortar store. For many that was probably the smart move.

Based on my experience this morning, there were certainly fewer people queueing up in the early hours of the day to get Apple's latest phone.

This might lead you to think that Apple and AT&T aren't going to sell all that many devices, but AT&T says otherwise.

AT&T spokesperson Michael Coe told AppleInsider, "[AT&T] sold hundreds of thousands through our preorder process prior to the launch, which exceeded our own expectations for iPhone 3GS."

Coe did not provide an actual pre-sales figure, but "hundreds of thousands" implies 200,000 at the least. This also doesn't include those who preordered the iPhone through Apple (as I did) rather than AT&T.

So, will 500,000 be a slam dunk for Apple and AT&T? That remains to be seen, but it seems a more real possibility.