Not only will Apple's iPhone present users with more features and capabilities, but the handset will have quite an impact on mobile marketing and brands' monetization strategies.

Apple will release the iPhone 3G S June 19 in the United States and will run on the new iPhone OS 3.0. The phone has new features such as the ability to cut, copy and paste, MMS, spotlight search and a landscape keyboard, but the most important new feature for brands and app developers is the ability to make in-application payments.

"The iPhone 3G S will have a very positive impact on the mobile industry, with a lot more applications than ever, a lot more freedom to properly price and more flexibility as far as monetization strategies," said Roger Entner, New York-based head of telecom research for Nielsen.

"This new version makes it a lot easier to do micropayments and the like, and they don't charge extra credit card fees, which is huge, because that has been the killer for in-application micropayments," he said. "This will help to expand the universe dramatically, because brands and developers can be very flexible around payment options."

Nielsen believes that marketers and app developers should experiment with various monetization strategies, including subscription, pay-per-download, micropayments, ad support or some combination thereof.

"Try all of the above monetization strategies," Mr. Entner said. "This is a huge real-world lab to find out what works and what doesn't work, and to survey consumers is one thing, but what they actually are willing to pay is another.

"With 3.0, the iPhone is really taking a significant step forward, with new features such as the ability to integrate Google Maps," he said. "This update opens up the platform significantly and enriches it.

"It adds a tremendous amount a value to the whole mobile ecosystem."

The latest version of the iPhone marks Apple's continued focus on the smartphone market, which has the potential to expand well beyond its current mostly affluent demographic.

Research firm Ovum expects 171.9 million smartphones worldwide to be shipped this year, a growth of 23 percent from last year.

Ovum projects that smartphones will represent 15 percent of the total worldwide mobile phone market in 2009.

"The latest offering from Apple is further evidence of the move towards managed device platforms, or MDPs, distinguishing those devices that are actively managed by OEMs, MNOs, Web companies and retailers from those that aren't," said Adam Leach, principal analyst of devices for Ovum, London.

"Consumers will increasingly make buying decisions based not on a device's potential to support advanced capabilities but -- crucially -- on the vendor managing their data and services on the device," he said. "The ability to deliver a tightly integrated end-to-end service proposition including content and applications directly to consumers was pioneered by Apple.

"However, the adoption of the MDP model by Nokia, Google, Microsoft, Sony and other major vendors will drive the adoption of smartphones."

Other early projections for the iPhone 3G S have also been enthusiastic.

The iPhone OS 3.0 has been almost universally well received by the mobile games industry, according to Screen Digest.

"As the App Store charts put pressure on publishers to lower download prices, the extra monetization options through subscriptions and in-app transactions or micro-billing will provide valuable additional revenue streams to publishers," said Jack Kent, research analyst of mobile media for Screen Digest, London.

In South Korea, mobile games publishers have reported that revenues from micro-billing can equate to 90 percent of the value of download revenues for role playing games and 60 percent for casual games, according to Screen Digest data.

"The iPhone's App Store ecosystem is ideally suited to games that exploit these business models," Mr. Kent said. "The handset provides an excellent online experience and is almost always sold with flat-rate data plans, so the user has few worries about playing online or connected games, or downloading additional content.

"The subscription business model is one that has long been championed by publishers but has yet to truly take-off with games from network operators, particularly in Europe, where many early users had been put off by a poor initial experience," he said.

Social media is red-hot right now, and social gaming is one growing niche that could benefit from the new functionality of iPhone 3.0.

"The iPhone OS 3.0, through enhanced peer-to-peer connectivity, will also expand the social aspect of iPhone gaming," Mr. Kent said. "This, in addition to links with social networks, will help attract new customers and expand the potential for viral marketing.

"Publishers of traditional single player mobile games may have to rethink their content strategies if they are to reap the benefits that the iPhone OS 3.0 is set to bring," he said.

"Subscriptions and in-app billing will reward publishers and developers of high-quality connected games, with a strong social aspect, that can provide additional content and create additional revenue streams."

Brands, agencies and mobile ad networks are imagining the possibilities that this new device could open up for them.

"The new iPhone release bodes well for all mobile marketers, for all of the obvious reasons -- faster Web browsing, faster uploading, increased page views and a better overall user experience," said Dave Gwozdz, CEO of Mojiva, New York.

"Every device I've gotten in the past several years has gotten better and better, and I can only imagine that if it's a better experience, then more people will use the mobile Web and applications, which means more impressions for marketers," he said.

Mojiva partners with Billing Revolution for one-click in-advertisement payments, which many believe is the way of the future. Marketers are excited about the iPhone now enabling micropayments.

"I can only imagine that if it is a usable circumstance for the user, and if it does speed up payments, we'll find a way to integrate it into mobile advertising," Mr. Gwozdz said. "In-application and in-advertisement payments will become a standard over time.

"People are not quite used to it yet, but it will become the norm quickly," he said. "Apple has done a great job, because the iPhone's graphical experience is more like the Internet, and iPhone 3.0 will set the bar for device manufacturers.

"It will be good for the industry as the whole, and we're excited about it."

Mobile marketers in turn have more flexibility, with models such as subscriptions and in-app purchasing.

"With the iPhone 3.0 in app purchase functionality companies like magazine publishers can now sell monthly editions of their magazines," said Luke Janssen, CEO of TigerSpike, New York.

"This will create new apps, but more importantly a whole new commercialization model that previously didn't exist," he said. "Magazine publishers badly need this as they struggle with declining ad revenues."

New features of iPhone 3G S
The new features of the iPhone 3G S include improved speed and performance -- up to twice as fast as iPhone 3G -- with longer battery life, a 3 megapixel autofocus camera, video recording and hands-free voice control.

Of course, iPhone 3G S customers get access to more than 50,000 applications from Apple's App Store, where customers have downloaded more than a billion apps to date.

According to Apple, the iPhone 3G S offers twice the capacity for the same price, with a 16 GB model for $199 and a new 32 GB model for $299 with a two-year AT&T contract.

The iPhone 3G is now available for $99 for the 8 GB model, which could encourage a wider segment of consumers to invest in a smartphone.

The iPhone 3G S reportedly renders Web pages quicker and launches applications faster than earlier incarnations. It uses the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard for 3D graphics to improve mobile gaming and other graphics-intense applications.

The new iPhone 3G S also supports 7.2 Mbps HSDPA for faster networking speeds.

With iPhone 3G S, consumers can send photos and video by email or MMS and post them to MobileMe or YouTube with a single tap.

MobileMe is available for an annual subscription price of $99.

The voice control feature in iPhone 3G S offers hands-free operation of both iPhone and iPod.

Users can speak the appropriate commands into the built-in microphone or headset microphone to dial by name or number.

With voice control, consumers can play their favorite music by artist, album or playlist and activate the "Genius" feature by saying "play more songs like this."

They can also tell iPhone to pause the music, play the next track, turn on shuffle or ask, "What's playing right now?"

The iPhone 3G S also features a new built-in digital compass for instant navigation, which could be used to enable location-aware advertising and store locators.

The Compass app shows consumers which way they are headed and rotates as they change direction.

They can orient themselves to true north or magnetic north, and iPhone's built-in GPS automatically displays the coordinates of their current location.

The new built-in digital compass is also integrated within Maps, so it automatically orients any map to the direction you are facing.

The iPhone 3G S provides new accessibility features including VoiceOver, a screen reader that speaks what appears on the iPhone 3G S display, enabling visually impaired users to make calls, read email, browse Web pages, play music and run applications.

The new universal Zoom function magnifies the entire screen, and the White on Black feature reverses the colors on screen to provide higher contrast for people with low vision.

The iPhone 3G S also supports Mono Audio, which combines left and right audio channels so that they can be heard in both earbuds for those with hearing loss in one ear.

The iPhone 3.0 software also includes a new Find My iPhone feature that works together with MobileMe so users can locate their lost iPhone on a map, send a message that will appear on the screen or play a sound to help you find it even if your phone is set to silent.

If consumers cannot find their iPhone, they can erase all data and content on their handset with the new Remote Wipe feature.

New iTunes features available with iPhone 3.0 software include wirelessly downloading movies, TV and audio programs as well as iTunes U so students can download learning materials on the go.

With more than 1,000 new APIs available with the iPhone SDK, developers can create applications using In-App Purchases, a new Maps API and Push Notifications.

The iPhone 3G S also features built-in Nike + iPod support. Users can place the optional Nike + iPod sensor, which costs $19, in their Nike + shoe to connect with iPhone 3G S to track miles run or sync with the latest generation gym equipment.

The iPhone 3G S will be available in the U.S. on June 19 in both Apple and AT&T's retail and online stores, as well as Best Buy and Walmart stores.

The iPhone OS 3.0 software will be available on June 17 as a free software update via iTunes 8.2 or later for all iPhone customers, while iPod touch customers will be able to purchase a software update for $9.95.

The iPhone 3G S will also be available in more than 80 countries in the coming weeks.

"The iPhone 3.0 is a major change for developers, all for the good," said Carl Howe, director of consumer research for Yankee Group, Boston, MA. "The single most important thing for developers and for-that-matter, advertisers, is in-application purchases.

"I can buy within an app, for example if I have a game I can buy new levels, and they've got an eBook reader just like Amazon's Kindle, where consumers can buy books within iTunes, and the money just magically flows," he said. "If you're an app developer you can make more money and faster."

Yankee Group sees opportunities for advertisers, as well as mobile commerce.

"This is one more arrow in the quiver of monetization -- if you want to do ads, you can do ads, and if you want to get paid directly, you can as well," Mr. Howe said. "This is a simpler way for companies to monetize their content, since Apple does all the micropayments aggregation.

"I think about all the troubles in the newspaper industry, and this is a case when you could buy an article for 10 cents and it would make sense for consumers," he said.

One head-scratcher is that, while international carriers will roll out all of the new iPhone 3.0 features immediately upon launch, AT&T has not set a firm date.

"I wouldn't say it's a black eye, but AT&T did get some minor injuries, because some features like multimedia messages, MMS support, and a couple of other features that were announced, AT&T won't have initially," Mr. Howe said. "AT&T said sometime later this summer.

"Verizon getting iPhone is probably not going to happen in the near future, but you probably will see an announcement in the near future about a Chinese carrier getting the iPhone," he said.

"You may start seeing unauthorized Chinese iPhones on Verizon before you see an official release."