iPhone Firmware Upgrade to Be Available in July

Apple today said that the 2.0 firmware update for the iPhone will be available for free in early July. Apple noted some new features to come with the firmware upgrade, including an enhanced calculator with scientific mode, bulk email move/delete, parental controls, and contact search. Another new feature will allow you to save images sent to your email inbox to the iPhone's photo gallery application.

Nokia Accidentally Confirms E66, E71

Over the weekend, Nokia mistakenly posted online video demonstrations of its next-generation E series business devices, the E66 and the E71 (pictured). The demonstrations were only posted briefly, however, before Nokia realized its mistake and pulled the videos. Images and other information about these devices has been circling the internet for nearly six months. This is the first time that Nokia itself has acknowledged their existence, even if accidentally. A device that could be the E66 was recently approved by the FCC. Later, a Nokia executive confirmed that it will be bringing new E series devices to the market in the third quarter, but declined to comment on exactly which models they will be.

Samsung Reveals Omnia Flagship Smartphone

Samsung today announced the Omnia, a high-end smartphone that combines Windows Mobile 6.1 with Samsung's TouchWiz finger-touch interface. The Omnia supports quad-band GSM/EDGE, plus HSDPA 7.2 for Europe and Asia. Key features include a 3.2-inch wide touch display, GPS, stereo Bluetooth, WiFi, and up to 16 GB of internal memory plus a memory card slot. A 5-megapixel camera is also included, and sports auto-focus, geo-tagging, auto-panorama, stabilizer, face detection, smile detection, and video editing. FM radio and auto-rotation round out the features packed into the 12.5mm body. The Omnia will be available in Asia starting in June, followed by Europe in July. The Omnia's model number is SGH-i900; an SGH-i907 (with the "7" implying an AT&T model) was recently approved by the FCC.

Apple announces faster, cheaper iPhone

Apple announced on Monday a much faster iPhone that's half the price of the current model.
The news is expected to address one of the biggest complaints about the hugely popular iPhone: That its network is too slow. CEO Steve Jobs said the new iPhone, which is based on 3G technology, is 36% faster than top rival Nokia's N95 smartphone.
As Fortune.com first reported, the new 8-gigabyte iPhone will cost $199 and a 16-gigabyte version will cost $299. Jobs says the new iPhone will be available worldwide starting July 11. It will allow up to six hours of Web browsing and five hours of talk time.
Jobs announced the 3G iPhone, which had been rumored for months, at the company's annual World Wide Developers conference in San Francisco.
Apple shares fell 4% after the iPhone announcement, as some investors were left wanting more from the gadget maker. The stock had been up 55% in the past three months on heightened expectations for a radically improved iPhone and the possibility of other product launches.
While the price cut was good news for consumers, U.S. iPhone partner AT&T said it would feel the pinch of having to lay out a subsidy for the new phone. In a press release late Monday, AT&T said the iPhone costs will cut adjusted earnings by about 11 cents this year and next.
AT&T's exclusive iPhone partnership also calls for the company to share as much as 24% of its monthly iPhone service revenue with Apple.
During the show, Jobs also introduced a slew of new applications for the iPhone, including a wireless system that automatically forwards e-mail to other devices, a friend-finding service called Loopt and mobile blogging software from TypePad.
Other new applications for the iPhone include a service from MLB.com that provides a live scoreboard of major league games, and music-making software, called Cow Terry, for creating songs on the phone.
The new iPhone applications are aimed at boosting revenue from data services. Wireless companies increasingly are looking to these services to offset slowing growth in mobile phone sales. Apple, for instance, will charge $99 a year for its new MobileMe service, which sends e-mail, contact and calendar updates to a user's devices.
The new services drew plenty of 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the 5,200 attendees at Apple's developers conference. But the main attraction was the 3G iPhone.
Since the original iPhone was introduced nearly a year ago, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) has sold 6 million handsets, Jobs said Monday. The company has set a goal of selling 10 million handsets worldwide this year.
But iPhone users have complained loudly about the cumbersome EDGE network, which is operated by AT&T (T, Fortune 500), the exclusive seller of the iPhone in the United States.
Jobs kicked off the conference by talking about the iPhone for business users, a lucrative market dominated by rival Research in Motion (RIMM). He said that the iPhone now works with Microsoft's Exchange office server systems - a key feature if the iPhone hopes to crack the BlackBerry's lock on working professionals.
Jobs also said that 35% of the Fortune 500 has participated in a beta program for business applications for the iPhone.

Touch Pro Announced By HTC

Today HTC announced the Touch Pro, a new smartphone that follows in the footsteps of the Touch Diamond and carries over a lot of the same specs. It uses the same HTC TouchFlo 3D user interface, runs Windows Mobile 6.1, and packs HSDPA 7.2Mbps and HSUPA 3G. Unlike the Diamond, the Touch Pro has a slide-out, five-row QWERTY keyboard for the messaging minded. Other stats include a 2.8-inch VGA screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and GPS. It also has a microSD 2.0 slot that can accommodate 8GB memory cards, and 16GB cards in the future. The Touch Pro has a customized version of the Opera Mobile 9.5 browser that is optimized for better browsing with your fingers. The screen will also auto-rotate when the device is turned. It will be available in a European version first--supporting 900/1800/1900 GSM/EDGE and 900/2100 HSDPA, and a North American version--bands yet to be determined--later this year. Pricing information was not made available.

T-Mobile Offers Family Unlimited Plan

Beginning today, T-Mobile is offering a new unlimited family plan for subscribers. The initial line is required to subscribe to T-Mobile's $99 unlimited everything plan. After that, each additional line added to the account will cost just $49 per month, but will still have unlimited national voice minutes, SMS, MMS and IM.