It's been a long wait but iPhone users can cut, copy, paste & MMS by tomorrow.

CORP TALK: Apple iPhone and iPod touch owners can download iPhone OS 3.0 on June 18, 2009 from here.

The software update is free for all existing iPhone users and US$9.95 for iPod touch customers.

The iPhone OS 3.0 software update includes over 100 new features, which we first highlighted here. Currently, there are well over 50,000 applications on Apple’s App Store. (more…)

The iPhone 3G S comes in two models - 16GB and 32GB - and comes with Apple's new iPhone OS 3.0.

SHOWCASE: Apple has unveiled a new iPhone called the iPhone 3G S at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco today. ‘S’ in 3G S stands for ’speed’ and apparently, the 3G S is twice as fast as the iPhone 3G, thanks to its 7.2Mbps HSDPA chip. Expect the phone to hit US stores June 19.

Not only that, battery life is longer, there’s a 3-megapixel autofocus camera, voice recording and hands free voice control. The 3G S will also include the new iPhone OS 3.0, which comes with 100 new features from Cut, Copy and Paste, MMS, Spotlight Search to landscape keyboard and more.  

While the 16GB model costs US$199 and the 32GB costs US$299, US-based telecom operator AT&T will be charging consumers between US$399-699 for the iPhone 3G S. 

Apple will be giving away the iPhone OS 3.0 for free to existing iPhone owners but charge US$9.95 for iPod touch users who want to upgrade. Not only that, the existing 8GB iPhone 3G will cost just US$99 for new AT&T subscribers from June  8.

The iPhone 3G S will be made available in more than 80 countries over the coming weeks. Check out some of its other features here.

If you want to catch the press conference of the announcements, watch in Quicktime MOV format here. If you want to read up on a report of what exactly went on over there (yes, one of our own from the Singapore team was there), go here. 

Unlike Apple's App Store, US$2.99 is the min. price per app on BlackBerry's App World. However, developers get a higher rev share on apps sold but pay more on annual subscription.

CORP TALK: BlackBerry smart phone users now have an app store to call their own as Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion (RIM) has just launched its much-awaited online store today. The App World store will include programs from popular networks like The New York Times, Facebook, MySpace, Bloomberg and so on. Unlike the iPhone with its popular 99 cents apps, the minimum price for App World is US$2.99 per app.

According to an InformationWeek.com report, developers will get to retain 80% of the revenue from any sold app, 10% more than what they would get from Apple’s App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch. However, they also have to pay US$200 a year to put up to 10 apps in the store, which is slightly more than what they would pay for Apple or Microsoft (its Marketplace for Mobile, slated for a year-end launch).

Of course, 3rd-party programs have long been available for BlackBerrys from various sources but with the launch of its App World, RIM is now officially following in the footsteps of Apple with its centralized store. It’s definitely going to be a trend as we see Microsoft (ie. Marketplace for Mobile), Nokia (who owns Symbian) and Google (for its Android platform) doing the same for their smart phone platforms. (more…)

SHOWCASE: Apple previewed its iPhone OS 3.0 software today and announced the availability of a beta software release to registered developers. The iPhone OS 3.0 beta release includes updates to the Software Development Kit (SDK) with 1000+ new APIs such as In-App Purchases, Peer-to-Peer connections and Push Notifications.

Apple's highly anticipated iPhone OS 3.0 will finally give you cut and paste, and MMS, among others.

The OS 3.0 also includes over 100 features for the iPhone and iPod touch, including:

• Cut, copy and paste features
• MMS
• Landscape view for Mail, Text and Notes
• Stereo Bluetooth support
• Syncing Notes to the Mac and PC
• Shuffle shake feature
• Parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the App Store
• Automatic login at Wi-Fi hot spots
• Voice Memo app
• Expanded search for all key iPhone apps
• Spotlight search
• Updated Stock app (shows recent news, opening/average price, landscape view)
• Shared calendar viewing with CalDAV support and syncing with iCal, Yahoo, Google and Oracle

According to Apple, its App Store has more than 25,000 applications available to consumers, and 15 more countries have been added so the App Store, making it accessible in 77 countries and reaching more than 30 million iPhone and iPod touch users around the world. (Editor opinions: 1)

David Chieng, Editor, HWM Singapore

David (HWM SG): There’s no doubting the fact that Apple’s been hard at work by adding a great number of features to their upcoming revision of the iPhone’s operating system, but a major bone of contention is that it took two revisions to bring something as simple as copy and paste to the iPhone.

At least Windows Mobile and other operating systems won’t be able to use that long-running rock to throw at Cupertino. On the other hand, it’s also a (more…)

First launched for Singapore, BuUuk, a free iPhone app, will soon allow iPhone 3G users in Indonesia to collectively rate a restaurant in Jakarta and Bali.

CORP TALK: Looks like all five countries HWM is in (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines) will finally see the Apple iPhone 3G officially being launched and made available to all. Indonesia’s Telkomsel will be launching the phone on the same day as Malaysia’s Maxis (as announced a few days ago), completing the much documented and final official push of the iPhone 3G (and its highly attractive App Store) into the region. 

The Indonesian launch will be held at Pacific Place South Pavilion, Jakarta and customers can buy the iPhone 3G during the launch period over three days starting from 10pm on 20 March 2009.

One-year service plans include the cost of the iPhone 3G with the lowest being 2,622K rupiah (US$219) for the 8GB to the highest being 5,912K rupiah (US$493) for the 16GB. Subscription plans, which offer free data capacity of either 500MB or 1GB with different free talktime minutes and SMS, would then cost between 354K rupiah (US$30) and 733K rupiah (US$61) per month. (more…)