So after months of going back and forth on whether you should get an iPhone 3G, you are finally ready to go for it and get your hands dirty with Apple’s coolest product to date. Congratulations and good luck finding one! iPhone 3G is almost out of stock. Many at&t store that I have personally gone to have told me that iPhone 3G won’t be in stock anytime soon (wink*). And other iPhone stores are also not having too much luck getting iPhone 3G in the hands of people. This is the strongest indication yet that iPhone 3.0 is close to be released.

As it has been long rumored, Apple is expected to release multiple iPhone models in the very near future. Not only that, Apple iPod Touch is expected to get an upgrade (and a camera). To make matters even more interesting, Apple has just released iTunes 8.2 in preparation for the upcoming iPhone 3.0 release. According to Apple, iTune 8.2 is now fully compatible with iPhone 3.0 software. The problem is iPhone 3.0 is not out of beta yet!.

I don’t know why anyone would want to get an iPhone 3G at this point. The new iPhones will be better and more powerful. But even if you have your heart set on an iPhone 3G, good luck finding one. You may still find one on eBay but wouldn’t it be better to wait a couple of weeks and get the latest iPhone? The wait is finally over or so it seems.

Apple may be trying its best to cover up its tracks and keep us all on our toes when it comes to iPhone 3.0. But as hard as it tries, it can’t keep photos from showing up on the Internet. The latest set of photos were released in a Chinese forum and were caught by Wired magazine.

As we have heard from other rumors, the hardware does look very similar to iPhone 3G. We can see the auto-focus and compass feature, which have long been rumored to be included on the next generation iPhone. iPhone 3 will also have a better quality camera as well. These features are all expected, and this new set of photos demonstrate just that.

Of course, these pictures can be just a big hoax. You can always bet on that happening, especially when a whole lot of folks are biting their nails to find out more details about Apple’s new iPhone. We are getting close to iPhone 3.0′s release date, so there will be more leaks on the way. Or you can just wait a couple of months and see the real thing.

Knowing that iPhone 3.0 is going to be released in a few weeks, it’s no surprise to see Apple contemplating a price cut to get more people to get their hands on iPhone. But Global Investor is running a piece that suggests Apple is planning to cut prices with the new iPhones as well. We have known for a while that there will be multiple tiers, and it seems the low-end model will cost only $99. Having a low-end model will allow Apple to expand its business and sell more units. More people will get to enjoy what the iPhone has to offer. But is a $100 discount encourage recession-wary individuals to spend a fortune on a 2 year at&t contract?

So how does Apple do it? Apple can take advantage of low part and labor costs to drop its prices. And you can be sure that Apple’s marketing machine will let us all know about the huge discount that we will be getting (50% to be exact). But one has to wonder whether at&t is ready to drop its prices further or develop a cheaper plan just for low-end iPhones.

I am still not sold on the idea of budget iPhones. Just as I am not sold on the idea of subsidized netbooks. Every-time you give people a big discount but ask them to part ways with a couple of thousands of dollars for a wireless contract, you are not really doing much. There is no question that a lot of people will take advantage of the cheaper iPhone, but the plan will work even better if at&t cooperates as well. We know at&t is also planning to lower its prices on its iPhone plans. Let’s hope it’ll be a significant discount.

So when are we going to see iPhone 3.0 anyway? We have heard a lot of rumors but a lot of people are still not sure whether we are going to see a new one at WWDC. In the past few weeks, we have seen a flurry of activities that could suggest the release date for iPhone 3.0 is near. For starters, at&t is not exactly giving the customers the indication that it has any plans to restock the iPhone. Then we have the leaked images, icons, and other iPhone 3.0 related materials going around the web. Can we really see a new iPhone at WWDC?

We already know a lot about what is going to be offered with the new generation iPhone. There will be a better camera available on the device, and the CPU will be much better. You’ll also get to download videos and content directly to your phone. What we don’t know is whether Apple changing its plans to thwart the latest move by Sprint +  Palm to grab some market share in the smart phone market. It’s no secret that Palm Pre is going to be released on June 6th, and Apple may be looking at releasing its new products as soon as possible to land a damaging blow against Palm Pre.

There are a lot of rumors out there, but it is evident that we are getting very close to the release of the next generation iPhone. What you don’t want to do is buy an iPhone and have it become outdated in a matter of weeks. I am personally more excited about Apple’s MediaPad, but it’s not clear when that will be released. It’s going to be a one busy summer for Apple.

iPhone 3.0 has got to be one of the most anticipated gadgets ever. We have heard so many rumors about it that quite frankly it’s all becoming a bit silly. You’ve got to admire the dedication and persistence of iPhone fans. They leave no stone unturned to find out more information about the nature of the next generation iPhone. According to iPhone Blog, an avid Apple fan has discovered an iPhone 3.0 icon that is very similar to that of iPhone 3G. While you can’t read too much into it, people are now claiming that Apple is working more on changing the software and internal features than the look of iPhone.

What seems to be more realistic is at&t introducing a limited data plan to attract more users. at&t has been working hard to come up with more ways to retain more iPhone users. One way to do that is providing more options to its customers. A $20 data plan may be a good start.

But perhaps the best rumor that I have heard is Apple adding direct movie and TV shows download capability to iPhone. That would certainly reduce the amount of hassle you have to go through to get new content on your phone. We all know Apple will be introducing a whole bunch of new video/content features with iPhone 3.0, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility for it to allow direct movie downloads on iPhone. Besides, the screenshots are already out on the web.

Waiting for iPhone 3.0 has been more fun that I thought. So many interesting rumors and so many directions Apple can take to improve its iPhone and iPod product lines. But not all these rumored features will make it so we are going to have to wait and see.

Your take: what’s the best iPhone 3.0 rumor you have heard?