As Apple Inc's (AAPL) flagship Fifth Avenue store attracted its usual cult-like carnival of devotees, a group of savvy iPhone 5 seekers in midtown Manhattan found an easier time by going to the retail stores of the major U.S. wireless carriers.

AT&T Inc. (T), Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) are all supporting the new iPhone, which is the first Apple smartphone to run on faster wireless networks. Carriers are seen benefiting from the iPhone 5 because the next-generation wireless technology--which they are still building out--is more profitable and expected to drive lucrative increases in data usage.

The phone's arrival Friday produced a familiar scene at Apple's main store in New York City: a media circus with customers lining the street that attracted intense marketing efforts from those targeting a captive group. A police officer on the scene Friday morning estimated that 500 people were in line.

In contrast, at the stores of the wireless carriers in midtown Manhattan, lines were shorter, and no one had been waiting for days. Customers still came early, but they were purposely avoiding the well-publicized crowds at the multiple Apple stores in the city. Even with the smaller crowds, there were concerns about the number of new iPhones available at the carrier stores.

A Verizon Wireless spokeswoman said "nationwide our stores still have inventory." AT&T declined to comment.

Before 8 a.m., about 15 people were outside the AT&T store in Midtown with a stronger showing at nearby Sprint and Verizon Wireless stores, where about 25 people waited. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD VOD.LN). Deutsche Telekom AG's (DTEGY, DTE.XE) T-Mobile USA doesn't sell the iPhone.

Many people in line at the carrier stores on Friday morning had never waited out for an Apple product in the past.

"This goes against most things that I do," said Eric Magidson, who works in finance in Manhattan and joined the line at a midtown AT&T store on his way to work.

While Mr. Magidson had long planned to get the latest iPhone, he broke his iPhone 3GS last week and decided that he would check the line Friday morning. He would only wait if the line was short enough, he said. A friend had success waiting at the same store last year by coming just before the 8 a.m. opening, which inspired Mr. Magidson to try his luck Friday.

Chris Vasquez, from Queens, arrived at the Sprint store in Midtown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday to be first in line. He spent a week checking to see if a line was forming as he walked to his job at the nearby Disney store.

After he lost his iPhone 4 in June, he was thrilled to be first in line for the newest version. Overnight, he said, he was visited by drunks and homeless people, one of whom offered him food after thinking that he was sleeping on the street himself.

"I was expecting more people," he said. "I knew the Apple store was packed."

Although customers generally expected longer lines, there was no assurance that they would get a phone as inventory is limited.

A Sprint worker told the roughly 25 people in line around 7:45 a.m. that if there wasn't enough inventory, they could buy a $50 gift card to reserve a device when it arrived. The money would be applied to the price of the phone when it was purchased.

A Sprint employee, one of about a dozen waiting for the stores to open, couldn't comment on inventory or estimate if supplies would run out.

Michael Luckhardt of Brooklyn arrived at a Verizon Wireless store in Midtown at 3 a.m. Friday to be first in line. He had never waited in line for an Apple product, so he thought he would have better luck trying the carrier's store.

"There was no way I was going to the Apple store," said Mr. Luckhardt, who works as a freelance graphic designer.

At around 6 a.m., Verizon Wireless workers put out poles for a line and handed out numbered forms to be filed out by those waiting.

"The Apple crazies have been lining up since last week," said James Jeudi, second in line at the Verizon store and explaining his decision to avoid Apple stores. He lives in Harlem and works in Midtown as a tech assistant at a nonprofit organization.

He arrived around 4:30 a.m. and expected more people to be waiting. Mr. Jeudi sold his iPhone 4S in August in preparation for buying the latest model and wanted to be among the first to get the phone. He is switching to Verizon from Sprint, citing network quality.

In contrast, Louis Toledo, who lives and works in Manhattan as a bartender, is switching to Sprint from T-Mobile, citing Sprint's unlimited data plan and better pricing compared to the other iPhone carriers. He is upgrading from a three-year-old iPhone 3G and found that preordering online meant having to wait for the phone.

He was surprised that the line wasn't "around the block" when he arrived Friday morning, but said he wouldn't wait in line for a phone again and was doing so Friday because he needed the device.

Although the carrier stores weren't as crowded, they still attracted people wanting to capitalize on the captive audience. Startup retractable phone-charger maker Escargot was handing out screen covers for the iPhone 5 that included product materials at the Midtown Verizon store.

Two company representatives, dressed in red and describing themselves as art teachers, were friends of the company's founder and spent the morning handing out screen covers to people in line at various stores around Manhattan.

--Andrew Fitzgerald contributed to this story.

Write to Thomas Gryta at thomas.gryta@dowjones.com

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