The 3G Apple iPhone Lands In The States

The company is hoping to boost its share of the smartphone market, which is dominated by Nokia and Blackberry.

The new devices were launched by Apple boss Steve Jobs who said the phone would be "more affordable" for consumers, starting at $199 (£100). I'm sure some of the people who have already bought the iphone will not be happy.

The new iPhone also comes with GPS satellite navigation built in for location-based services.

The iPhone was first launched last year and was criticised for its support for slower 2G networks only. 3G is seen as standard in many parts of Europe and Asia.

Mr Jobs said the 3G iPhone was "three times faster" downloading content over a mobile network compared to the original device.

Apple has a 20% share of the US smartphone market, but only 5% worldwide. And its lack of 3G has been a contributing factor to its inability to crack Europe and Asia.

Rival manufacturers

Rival handset manufacturers have also been designing devices which assume the iPhone's mantle as the "most desirable phone on the market", including Nokia's N96 and the Blackberry Thunder.

Google's Android platform will also hit mobile phones later this year, adding yet more competition to the high-end consumer smartphone market.

Yet even though Apple has sold more than six million iPhones since the device debuted in the US in June last year and the firm says it is on course to sell 10 million by the end of 2008, Apple have said the cost of the original iPhone was the "number one reason" that people had not bought one of the devices.

Mr Jobs said "The iPhone started at $599. It now sells at $399. We want to make it even more affordable."

The cheapest 8GB iPhone 3G will sell for $199, while a second model with 16GB of storage will sell for $299.

Mr Jobs pledged that the $199 price would be the same across many countries.

The new iPhones will be launched on 11 July in 22 countries, including the UK.

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