iPhone OS 3.0 Launching June 17th - MMS, Tethering in Some Countries

Apple today announced that its iPhone OS 3.0 will launch on June 17th, just prior to the release of the new iPhone 3G S. The upgrade will be free for all iPhone users, and will be priced at $9.95 for iPod touch users. While many of the features of iPhone OS 3.0 were previewed at Apple's media event in March, several additional features and clarifications were mentioned during today's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote.

- MMS: While the inclusion of multimedia messaging in iPhone OS 3.0 was discussed at Apple's previous media event, Apple today revealed the MMS will not be available for AT&T customers until "late summer", as much as several months after the launch of the new operating system. A number of other wireless carriers throughout the world will be supporting MMS at launch.

- Internet Tethering: At its previous media event, Apple chose not to focus on tethering, addressing it only in a Q&A period by saying that while the functionality is being built into the iPhone OS 3.0, cooperation from carriers would be needed in order to enable it. During today's keynote, Apple announced that tethering via USB and Bluetooth will be offered on a number of carriers at launch, although AT&T will not be supporting it for the time being.

- "Find My iPhone": A newly-advertised feature only for MobileMe subscribers allows customers to track the location of their lost iPhone, send alerts to the device, and perform remote wipes for data security. If later found, wiped iPhones can then be restored by syncing with iTunes.