San Francisco - Apple (NASD: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the much-anticipated second-generation Apple smart phones at the company’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco on Monday. The new iPhone 3G will use third-generation, or 3G, wireless technology to enable users to run wireless Internet applications like streaming video much faster than before. The price is also cut to $199 from $399 for the 8GB version, when it goes on sale in 22 countries on July 11.

So why is this such a the big deal? Well, many customers, particularly in Europe, have resisted buying an iPhone, waiting for a 3G version. The current generation of iPhones in the U. S. runs on AT&T’s EDGE network, which has been called “2.5G”. In plain English that means that it takes much longer to load web pages and multimedia apps. Now, Steve Jobs claims that the iPhone 3G is even 36% faster than the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95, perhaps its closest 3G competitor. It has also got built-in GPS, improved battery time and, of course, the substantial price cut by $200 makes it much more affordable.

Apple hopes that the new model will help the company increase sales from 6 million iPhones as of today to reach its goal of selling 10 million units by the end of the year. Jobs announced that it will soon be available in many more countries as well.

Apple also made a big deal of the new application store and the iPhone 2.0 software, being released in early July as free software update for all iPhone owners and at a price $9.95 for iPod Touch consumers.

Apple focused much of the presentation on business and enterprise uses such as Microsoft Exchange support for the iPhone, which indicates a clear strategy to take on Research in Motion (NSDQ: RIMM), makers of the Blackberry devices, in the mobile e-mail space.

Poll: What Is The Best Feature of The New iPhone 3G?

Joakim Baage

Related Links:
Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G (press release)

Apple iPhone 3G to Sell for $199/$299 From July 11 (More DMW coverage)