At 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday, the iPhone 3G will go on sale. It'll be available at both AT&T and Apple retail locations. The companies are opening their doors extra early to accomidate the expected rush of people anxious to get their hands on the speedier, more feature-packed iPhone model. Click here to find the Apple Retail store closed to you. And here to determine which AT&T location is your best bet.

Apple's listed a few things to have at hand when heading in to purchase and activate one of these smartphones:

Credit card

Social security number

Valid government-issued photo ID

Current wireless account number and password or PIN (if you’re new to AT&T)

Should you already own an iPhone, sync it with iTunes one last time before you get a iPhone 3G. This will back up all the data on your original iPhone. That way your info will be saved and ready for when you link your new iPhone to your PC or Maqc for the first time.

Unlike with iPhone 1.0, you can't activate the new model through iTunes in the comfort of your home, unforunately. Activation must occur in the store. There's been some concern that this would create long waits in line.

According to reports, however, the whole iPhone 3G activation process should take only between 10 and 15 mintues. Not the swift five-minute in-and-out of the store of last year, but still pretty reasonable.

Apple's plans to accomidate more than two-dozen people at time, according company retail head Ron Johnson. Speaking with Bloomberg.com, Johnson said "Apple stores will handle about 30 customers at a time. While the company will make sure the activation process is quick."