I have been drooling all over the iPhone ever since Steve Jobs announced it back in January of 2007. I watched in anxious anticipation and read boatloads of blogs as the device became available in June of 2007. I've read countless articles and spent all kinds of time in the Apple Store flipping, tapping, and pinching. I've run in to people with iPhones and shown them how to do things on their phone. I speak incessantly on the topic and am sure to have driven many of my peers crazy (to say nothing of the insanity with which I have imbued my wife). I can't help but be interested in a gadget that's both highly functional and a killer user experience.

After so much ado, and at long last, I'm finally going to own one.

The catch, however, is that I'm holding out for the 3G iPhone. Apple hasn't officially announced such a device yet, but I have plenty of reason to believe that they'll be available in June. Allow me to cite my sources:

"Several sources confirmed the introduction of a new 3G iPhone during [the second calendar quarter]."
– Rich Gardner, Citigroup Industry Analyst after meeting with members of the related electronics supply chain (via Apple Insider).

"Goldman said that while industry watchers have been expecting Apple to introduce a 3G capable iPhone by late 2008, his sources are suggesting that the device will be on store shelves by late May or early June at the latest."
–Apple Insider, emphasis added (Jim Goldman is a CNBC analyst whose Macbook Air rumor was spot-on)

"We believe this is one of the HSDPA [High-Speed Downlink Packet Access] solutions design wins management referred to as being due to ramp in [the second quarter of 2008].... Consistent with these checks, our Apple analyst Ben Reitzes believes that 3G iPhones will be released by mid-year."
–Apple Insider, emphasis added

"With these aggressive initiatives, we're expanding the scope and the speed of our 3G capabilities, connecting people with their world and enabling more customers to do more with their wireless devices, wherever they may be."
–Ralph de la Vega, AT&T Wireless CEO, via Apple Insider (again)

So why wait for 3G? Isn't the iPhone cool enough already? Well, considering I've waited this long, a couple months won't be much to wait to get a significant boost in bandwidth. Check it out:

I think a 5x speed boost is worth waiting for since connection speed is the most common complaint I come across. Having wireless access in most of the places I go would mitigate this problem, but theoretically the 3G connection could be even faster than a bogged-down, shared 802.11 hook-up. In addition, the iPhone 2.0 software with all its Exchange wonders and the AppStore will be added incentive and is bound to take the iPhone from awesome all the way up to wicked awesome.

There are several other sources to cite, and Steve Jobs himself mentioned the advent of 3G iPhones "next year" (referring to 2008), so there's lots of evidence to make this pretty much a sure thing. With Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference coming up June 9th, Steve Jobs' keynote will be a perfect time to make the announcement. Hopefully it'll include the words, "shipping immediately." My birthday will conveniently follow on July 3rd. Giddy up.