The iPhone 3G Cometh: WWDC Roundup

Apple enthusiasts had a lot to cheer about Monday as Steve Jobs confirmed months of rumors and speculation by debuting the much-anticipated 'iPhone 3G' to a jam-packed crowd at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.

Apple's CEO called the new iPhone "amazingly zippy" with download speeds at 2.8 times faster than the original model according to company tests, and 36% faster than comparable 3G devices. (Source: macrumorslive.com)

The new iPhone overcomes a number of previous issues; as the name suggests, the device will run on AT&T's faster 3G network instead of its slower counter part 'Edge,' it will include support for Microsoft Exchange and the price will drop dramatically at $199 for the 8 GB model and $299 for the 16 GB version. The iPhone 3G launches on July 11 in 22 countries including the United States, Canada and the UK, but Apple plans to extend the iPhone market into 48 other countries by the end of 2008. (Source: apple.com)

Clickhere for a complete country listing.

As we reported in March, third-party applications including games, social networking apps and an eBay interface will be available for the iPhone through a new 'App Store' launching later this month.

To access the new programs, however, you will have to download the iPhone 2.0 software coming out the same day as the iPhone 3G. The new software includes significant improvements such as GPS capability, improved email management, parental controls, and upgraded graphics and gaming capability. Battery performance will also increase with "10 hours of talk time on 2G networks and 5 hours using 3G, with up to 5 to 6 hours of web browsing, up to 7 hours for video playback and up to 24 hours for audio playback."

In addition to the 3G and improved software, Apple announced a new service called Mobile Me, which provides seamless and automatic syncs for email, contacts, calendars and a photo gallery between the iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices and your Mac or PC. The new service will also support integration with iDisk users for mobile access to stored documents and photos. (Source: apple.com)

Finally, the opening day of WWDC 2008 saw Apple introduce Snow Leopard, the newest version of Mac OSX. Planned for release within the next 12 months, the new version of Mac's popular operating system will be an upgrade for security and performance issues, but will also feature 'out-of-the-box' support for Microsoft Exchange 2007. (Source: apple.com)

The anticipation of the new iPhone had thousands of people lining up early to get a front-row seat for Jobs' annual speech. Tom Krazit, live blogging for CNET, remarked that the enthusiasm may have got the better of some journalists. "The press are mostly seated," Krazit said in his initial post, "and all seem to have managed to make it to the stage without being trampled, although I guarantee that's the fastest some of them have moved in 20 years." (Source: cnet.com)