The iPhone 3G will be available to AT&T customers on July 11, 2008. I am one of the fortunate ones with a birds eye view of what the new iPhone 3G has in store for consumers. A friend of mine scooped a ticket to the Apple World Wide Developers Conference 2008 that concludes June 13. All, I can say is, “Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire.”

The Skinny on iPhone 3G:

The new iPhone 3G measures 4.5-inches x 2.4-inches with a slimmer depth of .0.48-inches. It weighs 4.7-inches. The brilliant 3.5-inch touch screen display automatically adjusts from a portrait view to landscape with a wrist movement. The zoom in feature allows readers to zero in with a double tap on the screen. The web page can be viewed in HTML, PDF and other content types. The iPhone 3G uses EDGE for data downloads. However, Apple added WiFi 802.11b/g which enables users to access data at a faster rate and utilize Hot Spots.

The other big improvement over the original iPhone is a personal navigation feature. It provides a virtual map with the ability to key in a specific location and zoom in on an area. It also has a search feature which automatically brings up the virtual QWERTY keyboard. Users can type in points of interest or utilize the familiar search for Pizza. The virtual menu allows users to get turn-by-turn directions or address and phone information. The virtual QWERTY keyboard takes a little time to get used to. However, it does deliver rapid fire messaging, e-mail and enhances the search feature.

The addition of Bluetooth 2.0 opens up a host of new Apple applications. Over the past months, the likes of Disney, US Army,Genentech and thousands of other were supplied the new iPhone 3G. The selected BETA users created useful applications and provided feedback to iPhone 3G engineers.

Innovations Brought By iPhone 2.0:

The new iPhone 3G improved the Enterprise aspect by providing a wide range of sync features. The iPhone 3G can sync Microsoft's Outlook, instant messaging services, provide push-email. The most noted feature is enhanced security features VPN and other features that will allow remote users to wipe clean,lost or stolen iPhones. Most enterprise users, security and confidentiality is essential.

Apple took these concerns and with the assistance of its proprietary browser Safari allows sensitive clients to not compromise their own internal security. Apple simply added additional security options that can be utilized by their security minded customers. The iPhone 3G is in essence another platform,offering extreme portability compared by some to the introduction of Windows, Mac OS 10.

The issue that seems to haunt Apple in the past is its almost maniacal protectionism of its product. While the Apple iPhone 3G is not Santa Claus. It does open up developer tools to all the boys and girls. As I mentioned certain major corporations and a sampling of individual home spun developers were given BETA versions to experiment with over the past months. This was made possible by a totally egalitarian move by Apple. The Apple iPhone 3G has a new drag and drop developer's tool kit that will allow all users to develop applications, view and debug, and make it go live on their iPhone.

Various BETA testers introduced their new applications for the iPhone 3G during the conference. The Associated Press introduced a new live image and up to date news application. SEGA introduced a new Super Monkey Ball game that will be available at the for $9.99. The MLB.com demonstrated a real time baseball application with extraordinary play-by-play action. It includes videos of games within minutes after the action occurred. The Loopt social networking site introduced an advanced feature to locate nearby friends and IM or call them to make a lunch date.

Perhaps the most impressive from a social good point of view were the applications developed by companies in the medical community, One application allows medical students to bring up the human anatomy in a brilliant image, isolate the area of the body under study and create a virtual index card for remembering the name and function. The images are expandable to allow students to check Google or Wikipedia for more information. Rote memory, made easy and you don't have to worry about dumping a carafe of coffee on the index cards.

An insurance/banker from the UK developed a mini-band application that will allow users to jam, create melodies and mix music with absolutely no music training. These are just a sample of the almost endless stream of ideas for applications made possible by Apple opening up its developer's tool kit to the world.

Apple did offer something beyond drum rolls and glitz with the new iPhone 3G. Steve Jobs and AT&T dropped the price of the new 8GB iPhone 3G to $199 with a 2-year contract. The 16 GB iPhone 3G will cost $299 with the same two-year obligation. Best of all, the iPhone 3G offers a creative platform for the millions of users not able to give up there day jobs, but who have some great ideas. I can hardly wait until July 11 to order my iPhone 3G.