New iPhone Close To Hitting Stores

The new iPhone 3G goes on sale Friday. The high-tech gadget is under wraps in Green Country until 8 a.m.

"It's really a revolutionary device. It's the internet in your pocket. It's got GPS included with maps. It also includes applications that you can download to the device that range anywhere from games to business applications," said AT&T Sales Manager Mark Simone.

So does it live up to all the hype?

The new iPhone 3G is what many consumers have long been waiting for.

"The one thing that consumers had asked for in the next version of the iPhone was 3G support. There was a lot of public outcry that here you have a cutting edge project that doesn't seem to take advantage of the cutting edge data network. So this is actually a response from Apple to the specific consumer request. We want faster speeds," said Apple Consultant John McMinn.

"We expect large crowds. We expect lines to start forming overnight just like we had last year. Especially at the affordable price we have it at," said Simone.

But the big question is whether the cheaper version of the apple phenomenon will really cost you more. At first glance it appears you're saving big bucks.

The original 8GB iPhone costs $399. The 16GB cost $499. The base price of the new iPhone 3G costs just $199, the higher capacity version is a hundred dollars more.

If you add the monthly payment with AT&T, that's an additional $10 with the new 3G, and the $5 a month text messaging cost that was free with the original iPhone and savings start to dwindle.

You do have to weigh in the pros though. The 3G does include some major advances.

"Well the 3G network is the new high speed data network that's being offered by AT&T. When they first rolled out the iPhone that was the biggest complaint. The 3G gets near broadband performance. They were on a 2G network and performance was almost comparable to dial-up," said McMinn.

GPS is built in, the internet is at practically broadband speed so it's much faster and it has the ability to sync up with third party applications.

In fact, there's such hype surrounding the iPhone 3G that Apple is keeping them under wraps.

"We think the 3G is going to be a hot item, obviously we can't talk about quantities. If we run out we will have more very soon," said Simone.