3G iPhone to launch in July

Consumers in 22 countries across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific will be able to purchase the new Apple 3G iPhone when it is released on July 11.

Countering complaints about battery life, the new model will come with a standby time of 300 hours, which is comparable to the mainstream 3G smartphones on the market, while talktime in 3G mode is five hours versus 10 hours for 2G.

In its first year, Apple sold a total of six million of the first release iPhone.

“Just one year after launching the iPhone, we’re launching the new 3G iPhone that is twice as fast at half the price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

The retail price for the new 8GB 3G iPhone in the US will be US$199, compared to US$599 when the original model was launched a year ago. The 16GB version will retail at US$299.

Apple has dramatically changed the business model behind its iPhone in a gamble that counts on higher volume sales replacing iPhone revenue received by Apple on a recurring basis. Apple will collect the entire initial sale price, while operators will keep all of the fees consumers pay to use the device.

This is in contrast to the original business model where carriers paid Apple a percentage of both the higher iPhone price and the fees consumers would then pay carriers.