next generation

As expected, Apple has announced the arrival of the second generation 3G iPhone. The announcement occured just moments ago at this years WWDC (world wide developers conference) at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. Steve Jobs announced the next generation Apple iPhone and all its glory to a crowd of anxious observers who had many a set of cross fingers anticipating the announcement.

However, despite the formal announcement and the presentation of a ton of new information about the new 3G iPhone, it won't be available immediately as many had predicted. Instead, the 3G iPhone will be released worldwide on

Within the last couple of hours, Apple has taken down their online retail store. This is standard practice for Apple when they are adding new products and services to the online store. This serves as further indication that the iPhone 2 may be released at this years WWDC, which kicks off in less than an hour at 10:00 am PDT / 1:00 pm EDT.

Although the release of the 3G, second generation iPhone at today's June 9th WWDC has been rumored for some time, it has never been confirmed. However, the doubters seem few and far between at this point. Major news outlets have been

Yes, "confirmed" is a relative term, at least when it comes to "unconfirmed" iPhone release dates. However, that said, Gizmodo recently reported that a source they describe as "very, very close to the 3G iPhone launch" has confirmed that the 3G iPhone will be announced at this year's WWDC and will be available worldwide immediately thereafter.

Of course, there's no word on this from Apple or AT&T here in the US, but who would expect such?

The report also suggests that the iPhone will no longer be sold at a

Those of you that were avidly following the rumor lead up to the launch of the current version of Apple's iPhone probably remember that one of the major "tells" in regard to the then-coming launch of the iPhone was a leaked memo from AT&T which instructed AT&T retail sales employees that they were restricted from taking vacation during the period between June 15th and July 15th of 2007. As it turned out, release day for the original iPhone turned out to be smack in the middle of that period.

The last month or so has been one of the most prolific in regards to rumors surrounding the release of the 3G iPhone. The latest rumors indicate that testing of the 3G iPhone is already underway by the privileged few, and that the release of the next generation iPhone could be coming as early as June or July.