By Katie Marsal

Published: 05:40 PM EST

Having already promised to open its retail stores early, Apple now says that all its available stores will start selling the iPhone 3G S even earlier than expected. Also, the Mac maker has released Safari 4.0.1 and Bluetooth Firmware Update 2.0.

Apple to sell new iPhone in stores at 7.a.m Friday

Not to be outdone by AT&T's 7 a.m. pre-order pickup on the iPhone 3G S launch day, Apple on Wednesday moved its doors-open time to 7 a.m., an hour ahead of the previous schedule.

Unlike AT&T, Apple isn't saving the early line for those already committed to an iPhone and will let on-the-spot purchasers buy an iPhone at that time in addition to those who already signed up for service at home. Apple also expects this timeframe to hold across all countries rather than just the US, which should lead to some of the countries in the first wave of the iPhone launch receiving their units before those in North America have fallen asleep.

In the US, six Apple retail stores will be closed for remodeling at the time of the launch.

Apple releases Safari 4.0.1

Just a week after the introduction of Safari 4 itself, Apple has patched it with Safari 4.0.1 (web link not yet available).

The update mends compatibility problems between the new Safari and certain iPhoto '09 features, particularly integration with Places and publishing photos directly to Facebook. Other bug fixes havent' been mentioned.

As of this writing, 4.0.1 is only available through Software Update.

Apple posts Bluetooth Firmware Update 2.0

A lower-key update has come Wednesday evening in the form of Bluetooth Firmware Update 2.0 (1.8MB).

Upgrading provides various bug fixes but is targeted at compatibility between certain Macs and both the Wireless Mighty Mouse as well as the Wireless Keyboard.

Only Macs with a Broadcom-made Bluetooth chipset will see the update. Installing requires Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later.