It's an iPhone and it's 3G!

Yes, Steve Jobs has indeed unveiled a brand new 3G iPhone at the WWDC in San Francisco, and yes, Airtel and Apple will be bringing the same to India later this year.

We've always bet upon it and finally it's come true! Apple CEO Steve Jobs has lifted the wraps on iPhone II that marries features of iPhone I with 3G networking making it "twice as fast and at half the price of its predecessor". Jobs dazzled the audience with the brand new 3G iPhone at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) that opened in San Francisco today.

The Gen-Next iPhone offers faster access to Internet and email, a host of business features, and increased talk time. Most importantly, it supports 3G and WiFi and EDGE networks, capable of automatically switching between these to ensure the fastest possible download speeds.

The 3G iPhone allows multi-tasking with simultaneous voice and data communications. This means users can browse the Web, get map directions, or even check emails while on a call.

This time around, Apple seems to be targeting the business segment too, which has so far kept a safe distance from all things iPhone citing the lack of business utility features.

iPhone II bundles new iPhone 2.0 software with both the 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. Additionally, it incorporates the ability to read documents from Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Looks-wise the new iPhone appears sleeker than its predecessor; it has built-in GPS capability to allow location-based services. With software 2.0, users will be able to do real-time mapping and track progress, as well as 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 transfer them back to the photo library on other devices, et al.

There's also a new Internet service to the new iPhone called 'MobileMe'. The service pushes email, contacts, and calendars from an online cloud to native applications on the iPhone, iPod Touch, Macs, and PCs. So forget manually checking emails or waiting for downloads or even keeping contacts and calendars continually up-to-date; changes made on one device will automatically get synced to other devices.

Another talking point to the 3G iPhone is the all new 'App Store' that gives users access to a host of applications related to games, business, news, sports, health, reference, and travel. Overall, the 3G iPhone promises 10 hours of talk time on 2G networks and 5 hours on 3G, with up to 5-6 hours of Web browsing, 7 hours of video playback, and 24 hours of audio playback.

The 3G iPhone will be available in the US on July 11 for a suggested retail price of $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB model.
Meanwhile, iPhone afficianados in India take heart as Bharti Airtel and Apple have also announced that they will be bringing the highly-anticipated 3G iPhone to India later this year. Airtel customers will be able to purchase the 3G iPhone at Airtel Relationship Centers. What will the 3G iPhone cost in India, we don't know yet. Apart from India, the 3G iPhone will be made available in 69 other countries later this year.