Official Release: iPhone 3.0 OS

It’s finally here. The iPhone 3.0 OS will be released free for both original iPhone and iPhone 3G users. This is what Apple senior vice president of iPhone software Scott Forstall said last Monday during the WWDC keynote. It will be released officially on June 17. The only bad news for this keynote is for iPod Touch owners who needs to pay up $10 for the 3.0 OS. What’s even more disappointing is that the 3.0 OS won’t work for first and second generation iPod Touch models.

During the keynote, Forstall also talked about the 100 new features in the iPhone 3.0 OS. This includes the much anticipated cut, copy and paste functions, landscape mode in all key applications, including Mail, Notes and Messages. In addition, there is Spotlight support across the entire device, ubiquitous searching, peer-to-peer Bluetooth-based multiplayer gaming and push notification.

However, one feature that is still missing for the 3.0 OS is Multimedia Messaging Support (MMS)  support in the US. Accordingly, the iPhone OS 3.0 is capable of MMS, it, however, requires carrier support to implement. Twenty-nine carriers in 76 countries will support MMS at the time of iPhone 3.0′s launch, according to Forstall. AT&T, Apple’s U.S. carrier partner, isn’t among them, at least not initially. AT&T will be ready to support MMS later this summer, but not as of the moment.

Tethering is another feature without AT&T. Tethering describes the ability for a Mac or PC to share the iPhone’s Internet connection. This feature is especially handy for mobile travelers who don’t want to be tied to the limited range of a Wi-Fi hotspot, and who haven’t purchased a 3G data card for their laptop.

iPhone 3.0′s tethering works over USB or Bluetooth, and works on Mac OS X and Windows. But in another slight to AT&T, Apple listed dozens of carriers that will support this feature, and AT&T was notably absent from the list.