New iPhone launches June 9: report

Apple Inc. will launch a faster iPhone capable of working on third-generation cellphone networks on June 9 and sell it immediately, a media report says.

The company will announce the second-generation device at its Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco on that day, according to gadget website Gizmodo.

The website, citing "someone very, very close to the 3G iPhone launch," said the device will be available immediately, rather than toward the end of the year, as many industry observers have speculated.

Spain's largest cellphone carrier, Telefonica, will have the new iPhone for sale at the opening of its new flagship store in Madrid on June 18, Gizmodo said.

A 3G iPhone — one that offers a faster data connection so that web surfing and video streaming work better — has long been expected by industry observers, with many pegging the San Francisco conference as a logical launching point.

The conference could also herald the long-awaited official arrival of the iPhone in Canada. Rogers Communications Inc. last month announced that it would be bringing the device to Canada, but declined to give any further information.

Analysts said Rogers may have kept its announcement brief to avoid letting the cat out of the bag — that it would be offering the 3G iPhone when it launches.

Apple has sold more than 5 million iPhones so far and in the year since its U.S. launch has grabbed 28 per cent of the U.S. market in smartphones, or devices that offer data capabilities such as e-mail and web surfing.

The company is also set to add new e-mail capabilities to the iPhone in June that will allow message to automatically be "pushed" to the device. The new capability will allow Apple to compete directly with Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry, which counts push e-mail as the main reason for its success.