Shortly after the launch of the original iPhone a year ago, Steve Jobs held a private conference in Cupertino for the employees of Apple where they learned that anyone working at Apple for more than a year would get a free iPhone. Good for them. He also outlined the approach Apple was taking towards the future, saying that the iPhone makes the fourth leg of a four-legged stool, the other legs being the iPod, Macs, and Apple TV.

At the WWDC keynote on Monday, where Jobs introduced the iPhone 3G, he said something similar, but the stool he spoke of only had three legs: Music (iPod+iTunes), iPhone, and Macs. But where’s Apple TV?

The set-top video box loved by thousands of users wasn’t even mentioned in passing during the keynote. That’s not that surprising considering that developers don’t have access to the box, but the omission from the “stool” analogy is troubling to those of us who use the device. Is Apple dropping the underachieving product, or is it a sleeping giant that could change your living room?

We’d like to see it opened like the iPhone, with its own app store. Not that we’d want it as a computer — though some do — but it’d be great to be able to get a Google Maps or Weather widget for the box. Then as a screen saver for your TV you could get relevant information.

We don’t have that, and there are no rumors of it being in the pipeline. In fact, for the first time since the Apple TV was announced, there really aren’t any rumors about it at all.

But don’t count the box out yet. Because the Apple TV runs OSX, like the iPhone, most apps and games developed for the iPhone will run with little tweaking on the Apple TV. That means it’s entirely possible that we’ll at some point see things for the apps store ported to the device.

Or we might not. Even with the lowered price tag and “Take 2″ software that came out a few months ago the Apple TV is not a stellar seller for Apple. It’s not that the device doesn’t work — indeed, it’s one of my favorite pieces of gear I own, and that’s saying something — it’s that people aren’t really ready for it.

Cable companies have been offering pay-per-view on-demand content for years but the majority of people just don’t use it. There’s a mental hurdle to be overcome and Apple’s just not trying very hard to get over it.

Really, when’s the last time you saw an Apple TV commercial on TV?

But I’m guessing that’s going to change. Come the holiday season, when many games are out for the new iPhone and the fever reaches a peak, why wouldn’t Apple say, “Oh, yah, you can play these games on your home TV now.”

Apple’s already targeting the Nintendo DS with the iPhone and iPod Touch as a gaming platform. Adding the Wii to its sites while staying in the same platform would be a big step, and a welcome one as well. The motion-sensitive game play is great. If you haven’t tried it out yet, find a way. It adds another dimension to the gaming experience you can’t describe.

It wouldn’t be a stretch for Apple to add a wireless controller to the Apple TV that mimicked the iPhone/iPod Touch as a controller, giving the same great way to play to people who can’t go with the iPhone or won’t go to the iPod Touch.

That innovation, coupled with the iTunes music store and the integrated support for all the media on all the computers on the home network would make the Apple TV into the digital hub that Apple wants it to be.

Of course this is speculation. We don’t know what Apple has in store for Apple TV. It’s entirely possible that Jobs has nothing up his sleeves for the device, which would be too bad. But that’s not likely. Jobs has said before that the Apple TV is one of the most exciting devices he’s ever worked on at Apple, and each update it receives gives it more welcome features, like native YouTube support and streaming podcast downloads.

So maybe the Apple TV will turn into an iPhone-like gaming platform. Or maybe Apple will just start promoting it. Or maybe Jobs and company have something planned that we can’t even begin to guess. But one thing’s for sure: Keep an eye on the Apple TV, it will probably surprise you later this year.

Afraid we may have missed something in our coverage of today’s WWDC keynote? Want to see what it’s like to be a cutting edge liveblogger? Or do you just want to relive the history? No matter which is for you, we’ve got you covered. Click the play button above to see the entire event from start to finish.

What was your favorite part?

CONFIRMED – iPhone 3G launched – $199 for 8GB model. $299 for 16GB model. Coming July 11th.

The WWDC 2008 Live Keynote is over. Thank you for tuning in! Hit the jump to see what the fun was like.

10:48 – “The first phone to beat the iPhone.”

10:41 – Selling iPhone 3G all over the world.
us canada mexico
15 in south america
28 in europe
8 in asia/australia

10:40 – Third party apps. SDK. Great tools. Best way to distribute apps.
10:39 – Tracking GPS in Maps. Much much faster.
10:37 – 300 hours of standby. 10 hours of 3G talk time. 5 to 6 hours of browsing. 24 hours of audio. 7 hours of video. GPS built-into iPhone.
10:34 – Thinner at edges. Same 3.5-inch display. camera. flush headphone jack.dramatically improved audio. feels better in your hand. Faster data downloads. 21 seconds do download website in 3G. 59 seconds on edge. 3G 2.8x faster.
3G speeds are approaching WiFi. Amazingly Zippy.


3G iPHONE!!!!!! iPhone in more countries. Sold in 6 countries so far, in use all over the world. Everybody wants a cheaper iPhone.
10:28 – iPhone’s first birthday. Best invention of the year. Widely believe that this is the phone that changed phones forever. 90% customer satisfaction. 98% are mobile browsing. From Nothing to 98%. 94% are using email. 80% are using 10 or more features.
10:27 – Syncs with outlook, entrourage, mail, ical, etc. 20GB of online storage. 60-day free trial. Available in early July. What about .Mac. Mobile Me replaces .Mac.
10:25 – Cool interface. Lots of “tricks.” All of this is shown on Safari. “Send to Mobile Me.” Send photos online.

10:24 – Calendar pushes from cloud to phone. Automatic push.

11:20 – Rich Ajax environment. Drag and drop. Me.com isn’t up yet, incidentally. Password protect your info. OTA interaction with Mobile Me. iPhone is pushed to phone.

11:15 – Mobile Me works with Mail.app, iCal, Address Book. Works in Outlook. Me.com.

11:13 – Mobile Me. New .Mac. Exchange for the rest of us. Phil Schiller. Now you can use Mobile Me for push email, contacts, and calendars. Mobile Me stores your info anywhere using any device. Push info up and down to keep up to date all the time. All OTA.

11:12 – Developer certification program. Ad Hoc apps.
11:10 – <10MG apps downloaded over cell network.
>10MG via WiFi
Enterprises can offer apps for download to certain phones. Distributed on your own internal network.
11:08 – App store launched in July. Free for iPhone uses, $9.99 for Touch users. Apps are secures. No charge to give away apps free.
11:05 – Steve back. iWork document support and contact search. Numbers, Pages, and Keynote. Open Excel, Word, and PowerPoint docs. Download attachments. Save images to photo library.
Bulk delete and move in email
Sideways calculator.
Parental controls.
Lots of languages. Two forms of entry for Japanese and two forms of entry for Chinese. One finger-based character entry type. Switch languages on the fly.
One of the advantages of not having a bunch of plastic keys.

11:04 – CONFIRMED – Push notification service. Available in September.
11:00 – One new feature request. Background processes. Apple won’t support it. Showing Windows Mobile task manager – horrible solution. Using a push notification service in the background. Running an IM app. Connected to server. When you’re out of an app, the iPhone watches threads. Persistent IP connection. 3rd Party Server can push notifications.

10:57 – Digital Legends Entertainment. Barcelona-based gaming team led by Xavier Carrillo Costa. it’s a Prince of Persia-like advanced 3D platformer.
You’re some sort of ninja running around hitting pterodactyls with a baseball bat.

10:55 – Medical apps and mapping apps.

Band:



CroMag Racing:



AP:

eBay:

10:47 – MLB.com app. Jeremy Shayers from MLB. All today’s games with full stats. Who’s on base, batting, pitching…
live, real time video highlights of mlb games
every game, live

10:46 – Music creation app. Band. Drumbeat. Jailbroken iPhone owners will know it

10:42 – Brian Greenstone from PanGea software.
TWO games that are ready at launch.
Enigmo. Falling water droplets into a container. Rotating droplets. Very CPU intensive. Great CPU in the iPhone.
CroMagRally – 3D caveman racing game. 11 cars to choose from. Porting the games over took 3 days. It’s like flinstones meets San Francisco Rush. iPhone is the steering wheel… kind of like the Wii.

10:39 – Associated Press app. Mobile, local news network. You can supply news to the AP via the AP.app. Took only a few weeks to build.

10:38 – CONFIRMED – Typepad.app
10:36 – Typepad. Very easy to post on your blog. “Incredibly easy” to post photos. Free in the app store.
Built-in photoblogging using the camera API
Takes the photo album into the app

10:34 – Loopt, location based social networking. Connecting with people on the go. We make serendipity happen.
It’s like the loopt web thing, but location aware
so you can find your friends based on their loops twitter thing
Free on iPhone

10:33 – CONFIRMED eBay.app is FREE on app store.
10:30 – eBay. Ken Sun from eBay. Live eBay views.
live listings on the ebay application
webkit is in the application, so you can see the real auction HTML, just as the seller intended
Bid automatically on the system.

10:28 – Took Sega two weeks to port Super Monkey Ball. Inviting Ethan from Sega. 110 stages for a handheld game. All the classic monkeys. Fantastic gaming experience.

his looks amazing
3D video
uses accelerometers for tilt control
it’s great
available for $9.99

10:26 – Pogue says “Windows… Mac OS X… iPhone.”

10:25 – Disney says it likes the new iPhone SDK. After working with other devices, the iPhone SDK is a breath of fresh air.

10:22 – Showing UI builder. One-click compiler. Showing how to build applications for the iPhone. Clapping.






10:17 – CONFIRMED – iPhone uses OS X.
10:13 – here’s scott forrester
the SDK has the same APIs and tools as Apple uses internally
so we can make apps the same way apple does internally
the core and kernal are the same
sockets
security tcp/ip
power management

10:11 – CONFIRMED – New SDK has much more Enterprise support.
10:09 –
There are three parts to the iphone sdk
The first part is enterprise
We’ve got exchange built-into iphone 2.0 software
Email, calendars, contacts all sync
global lookup, remote wipe, the works
cisco has a secure VPN as well

10:08 – With 5200 this is the biggest WWDC ever.
Steve is on stage in jeans and turtleneck.
snowleapord is coming today
now let’s talk about iphone
iphone 2.0 launches today

9:58 – Seated.
9:49 – Ryan Block of Engadget opines:

9:39 – Six Apart confirms iPhone blogging app.
9:35 – CONFIRMED eBay and Loopt first two iPhone store apps. Ebay’s guy will speak on stage.
9:29AM -
Still in line.

9:22AM -

9AM -

Additional coverage over on TechCrunch.

Relax, it’s over, we came out of it alright. The iPhone 3G is officialized, and it’s pretty hot. Not just the faster speeds and real GPS, but the forthcoming apps and low price tag make it more a more than drool-worthy piece of hardware.

But what about us jailbreakers? Many of use run our iPhones on T-Mobile and run a plethora of free, non-official apps. The dev teams have done a pretty good job of keeping the iPhone open, allowing for many third party apps to be made available through the installer app. Some of these applications are stellar and will make their way to the official app store. One of the apps shown off at WWDC today was Band, a GarageBand-like app with a great interface for making music. It’s been part of the jailbroken iPhone universe for awhile and now has the official blessing of Steve Jobs, but other apps won’t be so lucky.

So where does that leave us who want open hardware, and where does it leave the software makers? Understandably, nobody at Apple was able to talk to me about this today, they’re all pretty busy, but the iPhone 2 firmware’s been out for awhile so it’s safe to assume the jailbreakers have been busy with it.

What’s really going to be interesting is how Apple treats jailbroken iPhones if they find a way. It’s possible that these liberated handsets could be locked out of the apps store, meaning users would have to choose between the freedom of open development or the sophistication of a fully enabled platform. We hope devs come up with a way to get around that.

We’ll keep checking in the coming month, of course, but our bets are on the dev teams. So far nothing has deterred them from making an open platform out of iPhones and iPod Touches without any significant hurdles thrown by Apple. We’re guessing they can keep this up, though until we see exactly how the app store interfaces with the hardware, things will remain uncertain.

At the end of Apple’s new commercial for the iPhone 3G, the camera swings around from behind to show the front of the device. After displaying the standard springboard homescreen, the screen flips over to an Apple logo on a black background — the same screen shown during boot up. What a creative way to show off the product while seamlessly incorporating the company’s logo, right?

Know when else my iPhone does that? When it crashes.

This commercial played during the keynote, and Arrington shot it live on Qik and took down the servers. Bloops! But now you can see it in high quality without getting anyone fired.

Nothing worse than packing a power adapter that’s damn near the size of your actual cell phone. Chalk this one up to the “little things” that makes people like Apple products; the new iPhone has a tiny, tiny power adapter.

It looks like it’ll be available as an accessory for the iPhone as well, should you lose the one that comes in the package. I’d assume that it would work for charging other devices like iPods, too.

This is a little propaganda-like, sure, but it was part of the keynote, and we figured you’d want to see it.

Steve and his friends had a great presentation where we saw new apps for a bevy of developers, most of them pretty good looking.

But the star of the show was the new iPhone 3G, a slimmer, faster version of the handset we all know and love. I talked to Glenn Lurie from AT&T Mobility earlier to clear up a few lingering questions. Sadly, most of what he told me were qualified “no comments”, but we were able to glean a couple nifty tidbits about AT&T’s involvement with the new phone.

Many were wondering if the lower price would mean a subsidy from AT&T. The new contract prices seem to indicate that it does, though Lurie couldn’t go on record about that. One fear some had was that Apple would have to pull the phone from the Apple store, selling exclusively through AT&T retail outlets. This won’t be the case. The iPhone 3G will continue to be sold through AT&T and Apple, good news for many.

Another question was about the speeds. The iPhone 3G uses UMTS as well as HSDPA, getting average speeds, he said, of about 1.4Mbps down. That’s roughly equivalent to a T1, which is pretty fast. I use an AT&T Tilt as my mobile modem which connects at that speed and it’s fast enough for just about anything.

Glenn couldn’t comment on jailbreakers or other carriers, but he did say that AT&T was committed to making current iPhone customers into future iPhone customers.

Lurie said that there would indeed be a trade-in program for current iPhone users, but only recent ones. If you bought your iPhone after May 27, 2008, you’re eligible for an upgrade to the 3G iPhone when it comes on July 11. He couldn’t comment if it would be a straight, free one-for-one trade, but he said details would be coming soon.

As for other iPhone owners, he couldn’t give me details, but he said that they wanted to make sure that early adopters of the original iPhone would also be able to easily get iPhone 3Gs in their hands. It sounds like some special contract deal for current customers, but we’ll have to wait on details.

So while there’s nothing earth-shattering there, it’s good to know that AT&T is making sure to take care of Apple’s customers. Don’t forget, it’s not the first we’ve mentioned that AT&T is making a turn around in how it treats its customers, and we hope it can keep it up.

Has the announcement of the iPhone 3G, and its $200 starting price, affected prices for the current iPhone?

Eh, not really.

A quick scan of the Internet—yes, all of it—shows no real deal trends. Gearfuse was able to find one current gen iPhone going for less than $200, and one for $200; the rest are all over the place.

The second-hand iPhone market should pick up once July 11 rolls around, and not a day sooner.

Though Twitter is rife with “who wants to buy my old iPhone” tweeets. Of course it is.

Apple’s stock is about 4% lower (as of 3:45 PM on the east coast) than it started today after Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. Trading opened at $184.92 per share this morning and is currently floating around $178 per share, with a daily high of $184.94 and a daily low of $175.75, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Apple’s stock price could have dropped for a number of reasons. The new iPhone 3G that was announced will be available in 70 countries on July 11th and will carry a base price of  $199 everywhere, and the relatively low price and the fact that the device won’t be available until next month may be contributing factors to the stock’s value. The new iPhone’s low price is good for consumers but might be making investors a bit nervous, although the almost-worldwide release should help matters. The low price comes with a catch, however; you must sign a two-year contract with AT&T.

Update: Just got this in from AT&T.

Current iPhone customers can upgrade to the 3G iPhone and pay $199 for the 8GB or $299 for the 16GB model. They will need a new two-year contract.

Customers who purchased a 2.5G iPhone on or after May 27 and want to swap it out for a new iPhone will be able to do so without incurring an additional handset charge for the new device. They will of course need to turn in their 2.5G iPhone.

And, there isn’t a no-contract option.

There is a restocking fee of 10%.

SAN ANTONIO, June 9, 2008 — AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced it will be the exclusive U.S. provider of the new iPhone 3G, details of which were outlined earlier today at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Under the terms of a new agreement with Apple, AT&T remains the exclusive U.S. carrier of the new iPhone, which will be available beginning July 11 at a starting price of $199 with a two-year contract. iPhone 3G boasts several significant enhancements, including:

· 3G broadband wireless connectivity, which gives customers a home broadband-like speed experience when surfing the Internet, sharing files and using media-rich Web applications.

· Business-class capabilities, including e-mail, viewed on a large, touch-screen device and designed to meet the needs of companies of all sizes.

· The ability for developers, including AT&T, to create customized consumer and business applications using the Apple software developer’s kit (SDK).

Customers can get more information on iPhone 3G at www.att.com/iphone.

AT&T expects that iPhone 3G’s attractive pricing and rich set of features including business e-mail and other applications, combined with the broadband speeds of AT&T’s 3G network, will spur significant subscriber and revenue growth — particularly in wireless data — and strengthen AT&T’s wireless leadership and long-term growth profile.

“iPhone 3G will take mobile communications and computing to a whole new level by combining a terrific user interface with a great experience accessing the Internet and subscribers’ favorite applications on our 3G wireless network at unsurpassed speeds,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility. “Combine our high-performance 3G broadband wireless network, the new iPhone’s business-class capabilities and a starting price of $199, and I expect that we will continue to increase revenue per user and attract customers who spend the most on wireless. The device is built, and priced, to sell.”

AT&T will sell iPhone 3G in more than 2,200 company-owned retail stores and kiosks, as well as through its direct business sales teams.

New Agreement With Apple Reflects Significant Growth Opportunity

The new agreement between Apple and AT&T eliminates the revenue-sharing model under which AT&T shared a portion of monthly service revenue with Apple. Under the revised agreement, which is consistent with traditional equipment manufacturer-carrier arrangements, there is no revenue sharing and both iPhone 3G models will be offered at attractive prices to broaden the market potential and accelerate subscriber volumes. The phones will be offered with a two-year contract and attractive data plans that are similar to those offered for other smartphones and PDAs. AT&T anticipates that these offers will drive increased sales volumes and revenues among high-quality, data-centric customers. Currently, less than 20 percent of AT&T’s postpaid subscribers have integrated devices capable of voice, Web and data applications. Based on the company’s experience, average monthly revenues per iPhone subscriber are nearly double the average of the company’s overall subscriber base.

n With a two-year contract, the price of an 8GB iPhone 3G will be $199; the 16GB model will be priced at $299.

n Unlimited iPhone 3G data plans for consumers will be available for $30 a month, in addition to voice plans starting at $39.99 a month.

n Unlimited 3G data plans for business users will be available for $45 a month, in addition to a voice plan.

In the near term, AT&T anticipates that the new agreement will likely result in some pressure on margins and earnings, reflecting the costs of subsidized device pricing, which, in turn, is expected to drive increased subscriber volumes. The company anticipates potential dilution to earnings per share (EPS) from this initiative in the $0.10 to $0.12 range this year and next, with a 2008 adjusted consolidated operating income margin of approximately 24 percent and a full-year 2008 wireless OIBDA margin in the 39-40 percent range. As recurring revenue streams build without any further revenue sharing required, AT&T expects the initiative to turn accretive in 2010.

AT&T’s 3G Wireless Network

iPhone 3G harnesses the power of AT&T’s broad and powerful 3G mobile broadband network, which offers 3G mobile phones download speeds of up to 1.4 Mbps. AT&T’s 3G network is currently available in 280 leading U.S. metropolitan areas; by year-end, the company plans to offer 3G service in nearly 350 metro areas. Following the recent turndown of its TDMA network, the company is further enhancing its 3G network, with improved coverage quality made available through reallocated 850 MHz spectrum.

AT&T’s 3G network is the best positioned among American carriers to grow in line with customer demand, evolving to next-generation speeds incrementally during the next few years. Between 2005 and the end of 2008, AT&T will have invested more than $20 billion in wireless network improvements and upgrades.

AT&T has the best global coverage of any provider, with voice-roaming available in more than 200 countries and data-roaming in more than 145 countries, including more 3G roaming than any other carrier.

In addition, the new iPhone 3G will operate in Wi-Fi mode through wireless modems in homes and offices, as well as public hot spots.

Marketing the iPhone to Businesses

iPhone 3G includes new business capabilities, including access to corporate e-mail and intranets, as well as the ability to certify mobile business applications to suit the needs of an array of industries, ranging from health care and real estate to higher education and financial services. Starting July 11, AT&T will begin marketing to its business customers, which includes all of the Fortune 1000. To prepare for the rollout, AT&T will be conducting extensive training among its thousands of enterprise and small business sales force and customer-support employees. AT&T is the world’s leading provider of corporate wireless e-mail solutions.

“We’re anticipating significant demand from companies of all sizes based on the feedback we’ve received from the many corporate customers who have already purchased the first-generation iPhone, as well as from companies waiting for the new iPhone’s business applications,” said Ron Spears, group president, AT&T Global Business Services. “Businesses will benefit from all of the iPhone’s new features, as well as the ability to maximize productivity by using the combination of 3G broadband connectivity and customized applications.”

Through its work over the years with the developer community, AT&T has developed a robust catalog of hundreds of enterprise applications (www.att.com/choice). AT&T will work with Apple, using the SDK process, to enable many of these applications, which today operate on other AT&T-powered wireless devices, to also work on the iPhone. The growth of mobile applications represents a huge opportunity for companies to improve productivity through reduced overhead expenses, access to real-time information and higher levels of speed and efficiency.

Unleashing Innovative Applications With the SDK

AT&T is working closely with Apple to roll out several new and innovative applications that take advantage of the iPhone’s advanced capabilities. For example, AT&T is finalizing YELLOWPAGES.COM mobile for the iPhone, an innovative GPS-enabled application that combines local search with social networking capabilities, giving users the ability to search for information, share reviews and plan activities with friends, neighbors and co-workers. In addition, the company will work to certify many of its existing mobile applications for businesses, created in conjunction with third-party developers, for use on the iPhone.

Here’s an overview of the countries that’ll be receiving the new iPhone.

On July 11th, the iPhone 3G will be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and here in the USA. It’ll be “coming soon” to the rest of the 70 countries that Jobsie referenced during the keynote.

Apple’s online store has come back up and, although the 3G iPhone is featured on the main page, it’s not yet available for pre-order. There’s just a message saying “iPhone will be available in 8GB (black) and 16GB (black or white) models at Apple Retail Stores and AT&T Stores.”

The down and dirty blurb-ish text on the new iPhone is as follows:

Introducing iPhone 3G. With fast 3G wireless technology, GPS, support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more amazing features in your hands. And just like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one —a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device.

And here’s a picture of the white version. The iPhone 3G will be available on July 11th for $199 (8GB version) or $299 (16GB version). The white iPhone 3G will only be available in the 16GB capacity. Pricing for both models requires a two-year contract with AT&T, unfortunately.

Apple Store [store.apple.com]

So it finally happened. Apple today announced the 3G iPhone at WWDC, as was rumored for quite some time. The name is iPhone 3G.

The straight dope:

• Available on July 11

• $199 for the 8GB model, and $299 for the 16GB

• It’s blackish, with the 16GB model also available in white

• There’s no cam on the front. Oops.

• Built-in GPS will rock

According to Apple, the 3G iPhone is nearly three times faster than last year’s model. Happy now, crazy “where’s the 3G?!?” people?

Actually, it looks like GPS will be the biggest feature in the iPhone 3G
With the built-in GPS, you’ll be able to use the maps application all the more effectively. Don’t know where you are? Whip out that map, and let GPS guide you to where you need to go. I’m sure folks like Garmin can’t be too pleased.

The full press release:

SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Apple® today introduced the new iPhone™ 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.** iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US—on July 11.

“Just one year after launching the iPhone, we’re launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “ iPhone 3G supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync right out of the box, runs the incredible third party apps created with the iPhone SDK, and will be available in more than 70 countries around the world this year.”

iPhone 3G gives users ever faster access to the Internet and email over their cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA for voice and data connectivity around the world. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. The new iPhone 3G also makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications, so with iPhone 3G you can browse the web, get map directions, or check your email while you are on a call.

iPhone 3G includes the new iPhone 2.0 software with both the iPhone SDK and key enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide over-the-air push email, contact and calendar syncing as well as remote wipe and Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to corporate networks. The iPhone SDK allows developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone’s groundbreaking Multi-Touch™ user interface, animation technology, accelerometer and GPS technology on the world’s most advanced mobile platform.

iPhone 3G includes the new App Store, providing iPhone users with native applications in a variety of categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The App Store on iPhone works over cellular networks and Wi-Fi, which means it is accessible from just about anywhere, so you can purchase and download applications wirelessly and start using them instantly. Some applications are even free and the App Store notifies you when application updates are available. The App Store will be available in 62 countries at launch.

Additional features available with the iPhone 2.0 software include the ability to do real-time mapping and track your progress with GPS technology, mass move and delete multiple email messages, search for contacts, access a new scientific calculator, turn on parental control restrictions for specified content, save images directly from a web page or email them to your iPhone and easily transfer them back to your photo library on your Mac® or PC. iPhone 3G delivers an amazing 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.

iPhone 3G takes advantage of MobileMe™, a new Internet service that pushes email, contacts, and calendars from an online “cloud” to native applications on iPhone, iPod® touch, Macs and PCs. With MobileMe email, messages are pushed instantly to iPhone, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads, and push keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically updated on other devices. With iPhone, you can even snap a photo and post it directly to a MobileMe Gallery to share with friends and family.

iPhone 3G will be available in the US on July 11 for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 8GB model and $299 (US) for the 16GB model in both Apple and AT&T’s retail stores and requires a new two year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers. iPhone 2.0 software will be available on July 11 as a free software update via iTunes® 7.7 or later for all iPhone customers. For further information about iPhone 3G pricing and availability in the US and internationally, visit www.apple.com/iphone.

*Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.
**Based on iPhone 3G (8GB) and first generation iPhone (8GB) purchases. Requires new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

The following is how TechCrunch’s Erik Schoenfeld interprets today’s announcement of the new .Mac, mobileme.

As was widely speculated before Steve Jobs’ keynote address today, Apple is relaunching its .Mac service as mobileme. The service syncs emails, photos, contacts, calendars, and other information between your iPhone and different computers. It works not only on Macs, but also on Windows. It will cost $99 a year, with 20 Gigabytes of online storage. The service, which will replace .Mac, will be available in early July.

Apple calls it “Exchange for the rest of us.” Interesting positioning. Usually Apple does not aspire to be like Microsoft. Video is below. [Well, on TechCrunch. Qik seems to be slow at the moment, so don't freak out if the video doesn't load immediately.]

Matt, Michael, and Mark (the M-Team) will be reporting live from WWDC TODAY at 10AM Pacific, 1PM Eastern. We will be posting on CrunchGear. You can talk to us live about the event at CrunchChat. If it all goes pear-shapes we’ll revert to a static HTML page in place of the dynamic page for the duration of the event. TC will have a copy of the coverage as well.

If you will be away from your computer during this time, we will use Pingie to to send SMS messages regarding ONLY THE PRODUCT LAUNCHES. You can sign up here. Regular SMS charges may apply, but you will not pay Pingle or CrunchGear for this service.