New iPhone Due Out July 11New iPhone Due Out July 11

The second generation iPhone, with 3G wireless connectivity and GPS, plus lower prices, will be available July 11 in 22 countries.In a presentation at Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference this morning, Steve Jobs introduced the much-anticipated next-generation iPhone. Among the new features are 3G wideband connectivity, supplementing the existing EDGE technology. In the onstage demonstrations, opening Web pages and downloading e-mail was about three times faster with 3G than with EDGE. And, Apple claims, the 3G iPhone is about 36 percent faster than two other 3G phones, the Nokia N95 and the Treo 750.

Another new feature is the inclusion of true GPS tracking. (The current iPhone does location mapping based on cell phone towers.) The demonstration featured a moving phone's location being tracked in real time on a Google map.

Apple is also transitioning its .Mac online service to a new service called MobileMe. MobileMe enables syncing of contacts, email, and calendar between iPhone and Macs. What's more, it can push e-mail and calendar items to the iPhone--"Microsoft Exchange for the rest of us," said Apple senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller.

The new iPhone will be available July 11 in 22 countries, including Australia and Japan, with availability in 70 countries by the end of the year. The price will be $199 for an 8GB model (down from the current $399) and $299 for a 16GB model.Macworld, information