In the technological equivalent of deja vu all by again, Apple’s iPhone will launch on Friday with 3G.

It remains to be seen whether the buzz gets anywhere near the hoopla surrounding the iPhone’s initial launch last June, but a line has already started forming outside Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in New York. The iPhone 3G goes on sale at 8 a.m. local day on Friday. Outside the U.S., launch times and dates vary, with the earliest plus being July 11.

A World Phone

The newest version of the “phone that changed the world” comes not only with faster 3G connectivity, but a lower price — $199 for the 8GB model. It is additionally now in sync with the most prevalent telecommunications networks in countries around the world, and will be available in more than 70 countries.

Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said the addition of 3G, plus a “dramatic increase” in the number of

countries where the iPhone is available, should conclusion in the device selling “considerably greater” numbers outside the U.S. than in the past.

For the U.S. market, he added, the price drop puts the iPhone 3G more in the range of some smartphones.

Greengart noted two differences amidst that week’s launch of the iPhone 3G and last June’s launch of the original iPhone.

A big one, he said, is that that instance the iPhone has corporate e-mail support. “This opens up the iPhone as a choice for those customers who are interested in a smartphone for its e-mail capability,” he said.

Among the criticisms of the original iPhone at launch was its lack of support for enterprise use, and there have been reports of increasing demand among employees to use the device.

‘Mobile Computing Platform’

The second big difference, Greengart said, is that the iPhone 3G is “becoming a…

Original post by Top Tech News