Well, it’s finally here: Steve Jobs announced the long-awaited, much-anticipated, highly coveted, and frustratingly late-by-a-year 3G-enabled iPhone today at Apple’s WWDC software development conference. While the general appearance doesn’t change drastically, the phone no longer has a matte silver back–it’s been replaced by glossy plastic in either black or white.

Besides the cosmetic changes, the 3G iPhone (its official monicker) obviously provides much faster access to Internet and email over the AT&T cellular network. In onstage demoing (which I didn’t get to see, since I was following text and audio updates from several sources), sites downloaded in approximately one-third the amount of time in 3G when compared to the pokey EDGE data network–which Jobs noted is approaching Wi-Fi speeds. Web site downloads are also touted as being faster than other competing phones, such as the Palm Treo and the Nokia N95.

The new model will also have an embedded GPS chip for live location tracking and turn-by-turn directions. And of course it’s ready for big enterprise business usage with compatibility with Microsoft Exchange and ActiveSync. Apple also announced today the revision to the .Mac service, dubbed MobileMe, which offers some enterprise-level features such as push email and over-air synchronization of calendar events and contacts between the iPhone 3G and Mac and Windows-based computers.

But the big news is that the price has come down dramatically to $199 for the 8 GB model and $299 for the 16 GB model (as denoted from the keynote in the image below, supplied by Engadget). The current model sells from AT&T for $399 and $499 respectively. No details yet on what kind of contract that might entail from AT&T. The iPhone 3G will be available starting on July 11 from Apple Store and AT&T retail store locations. The iPhone 2.0 software/firmware upgrade will also be coming in July and will be free to all current version 1.0 iPhone owners. (Owners of iPod touch devices will once again have to pay for the privilege of installing the new software.)

–Agen G.N. Schmitz

Credit > http://www.enduserblog.com

Shopping > Iphone 3g