Apple has unveiled a sleeker, faster, cheaper version of its iPhone in a move designed to boost sales of its popular mobile phone when it hits the shelves worldwide next month.
The new iPhone - which runs on the high-speed 3G mobile network - was introduced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs in San Francisco overnight.
Apple says the phone will go on sale from July 11 in some 20 countries - Australia among them. Eventually, the phone will be sold in about 70 countries - compared with the six which sold the first phone.
However, pricing details for only the US have been announced - frustrating many Australians who have been waiting a year since the launch of the first generation iPhone for the device to be rolled out here.
In the US, the base model 3G iPhone with 8GB of memory will sell for $US199 ($210). The 16GB model will retail for $US299. Both these deals require the buyer to take out a two-year contract with AT&T, Apple's US mobile partner.
The comparable models in the first generation iPhone were selling for $US399 and $US499, respectively.
In Australia two carriers - Optus and Vodafone - have signed with Apple to sell the 3G iPhone.
It appears that all new iPhones sold in Australia will be locked to specific carriers - dashing hopes that the phone could be bought outright and used on any network.
There is no mention of the phone being available directly from Apple's online store or from its new Sydney retail outlet, which opens on June 19.
Australian mobile companies typically build the price of the handset into the cost of an overall package.
As a result, many popular mobiles are priced at a symbolic $0 with plans that tie the user to the network for 12 or 24 months.
Mike Smith, the Optus director of marketing, said it was a "reasonable starting point" to assume that the iPhone pricing in Australia would be in the same ballpark as so-called smart phones with similar features.
Smart phones are mobiles that offer a range of additional functions such as email and web browsing.
Both Vodafone and Optus offer plans for the BlackBerry smart phone - Apple's main competitor in this market segment - that range from $79 a month up, depending on usage.
Both carriers will also be offering the iPhone on a prepaid basis. Customers who choose this option usually buy the phone outright, with the phones locked to a specific network.
Both Vodafone and Optus have promised to reveal pricing details well in advance of next month's iPhone launch and are currently offering pre-registration for those interested in taking up one of the plans.
Mr Smith said he was expecting a high level of demand from business users because of a feature in the new iPhone that will allow it to hook up with corporate email systems.
In his presentation, Apple's Steve Jobs also said the company had worked with Cisco Systems to enable the iPhone to establish secure connections with corporate computer systems to protect data being transferred.
Another new feature is a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) capability - a feature that is becoming more commonplace in high-end mobiles.
The phone will also have a longer battery life that will give users between five and 10 hours of talk time, depending on the type of network being used, and up to six hours of web browsing time.
In conjunction with the release of the new phone, Apple is launching a new mobile storage service called MobileMe.
For an annual fee of $A119, MobileMe users can use it to park up to 20GB of data such as photos, emails and calendar detail.
Apple says subscribers to the .Mac service will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe at no additional cost.
Apple is also launching a so-called App Store where iPhone users can buy hundreds of third-party tools and services. These applications include games, productivity tools, an eBay auction program, and translation software.
"We've learned so much with the first iPhone," Jobs said. "We've taken what we've learned and more and created the iPhone 3G; and it's beautiful."
On the minus side, the camera on the new phone is still the same two-megapixel number that came with the first iPhone. Many competing mobiles now feature five-megapixel cameras as standard.
Apple has sold 6 million iPhones since the device went on sale last June. The company has set itself a target of selling 10 million by the end of 2008.
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