Apple's new 3G iPhone is selling like hot cakes!

The process all started July 10 when you could obtain iPhone Software v2.0 early. I did and I must admit I spent a fair amount of time trying out some of the new features like the Apple iPhone Application Store. However it appears that when everyone started to update their phones firmware from 1.x to 2.x Apples servers were overloaded (iPocalypse) because unlike updates in the past this update requires you to reactivate your iPhone. Even InformationWeek called the new software upgrade really sweet!

I have to say one of my favorite new Applications in the America online instant messenger (a.k.a AIM chat). Because I must admit I am not a fan of SMS texting at all.

Apple fans have been flocking to Apple stores all over the world snapping up the new 3G iPhones. The New York Apple store had over 150 people lined up this morning as early as 5:00 AM.  Buyers have been storming stores in Asia and queues forming in European cities. In New Zealand people queued in freezing temperatures for around 60 hours to be the world's first to buy the iPhone at a minute past midnight on Friday. "Guards in kevlar vests and helmets brandished shotguns and stood guard over 500 devices on sale in Hong Kong, a city that has seen its share of unruly crowds at major product launches." "Softbank Corp, which sells the iPhone in Japan, said over 1,500 people lined up outside its flagship Tokyo store. " 

There is good news from the business front as well because O2 said there's been a lot of interest in the iPhone now that it supports Microsoft Exchange. Yet there are always the iPhone haters and Windows fan boys with us who would complain about any success that Apple might have. The hackers have been rather busy so there are already reports that the iPhone OS 2.0 has been unlocked!

.Mac has also transitioned to MobileMe but not without serious downtime and many users were fuming mad at having the service unusable for over 12 hours.

Updated: Apple Sells One Million iPhone 3Gs in First Weekend" ["'iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,' said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. 'It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.'"

WWDC 2008 news

A new 3G iPhone will be released shortly and you can  view todays keynote details here. The iPhone 3G (8/16 GB) will be available on July 11th in 22 countries. Other then 3G the iPhone will also feature Exchange and GPS. According to Apple, maximum price around the world is $199 USD plus the cost of your data plan per month. 

The iPhone 3G will first be released in the 22 largest markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US. The remaining 48 countries listed after the break will get theirs "later this year." In total so far the iPhone country count stands at 74.

Even though Russia and (all of) China are not on the list then if you check the iPhone tech specs you will see that their languages are now listed as supported. Apple is also replacing .Mac with MoblieMe. Apple also announced Snow Leopard (are they running low on cats yet?) at the WWDC keynote (podcast) and this release of 10.6 will offer Exchange support and will focus on improving performance. How will they do this? Well 10.6 will be 64bit for INTEL processors and they will make all of OS X multi processor aware to take full advantage of all cores. Not only will Grand Central boost speed but they will also introduce OpenCL and this will tap hidden additional resources. Yes while Microsoft is letting you upgrade from Vista to XP, Apple is really pulling out all the stops to make OS X powerhouse. While it did not make a big splash Apple is also showing off Snow Leopard Server at WWDC.