On July 11, 2008, Apple released the iPhone 3G in twenty-two countries, including the original six; in 8GB and 16GB models, with the larger capacity version having the option of being in black or white.[12][13]

When the iPhone 3GS was released, the iPhone 3G's price was cut in half, and was made the budget model of iPhone. The $99 iPhone 3G was in black only and came with 8GB of storage. Included with this revision is iPhone OS 3.0 [14] On June 7, 2010, the iPhone 3G was discontinued, and replaced with an 8 GB iPhone 3GS selling for the same price of $99.

[edit]Software

The iPhone 3G came preloaded with the latest version of iPhone OS both to offer the newest improvements to the software and to combat efforts of jailbreaking. Over the years, the iPhone 3G has been supported by Apple with software updates. Major iterations of the software usually released yearly.

At launch, in July 2008, the iPhone 3G came preloaded with iPhone OS 2.0 which introduced the App Store, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support, Apple’s MobileMe service, and push email support, along with other new features and bug fixes as well.

On June 2009, the iPhone 3G received the iPhone OS 3.0 software update which introduced the long-awaited MMS feature, copy and paste, landscape support for more applications, Bluetooth stereo support, and other improvements as well.

On June 2010, the iPhone 3G owners were issued the iOS 4.0 software update. Unlike its successor, the iPhone 3GS though, it did not receive multitasking, home screen wallpaper, or Bluetooth keyboard support. However, it still got the unified mailbox feature, folders, playlist creation, among other enhancements in iOS 4. Still despite the number of new features the update introduced, it was widely criticized for its slow performance on the device.

However an update to iOS 4.1 was unveiled and released on September 2010 which improved the device’s performance under iOS 4. Unlike other iOS devices though, it did not receive the Game Center application.[15]

On November 22, 2010, the iPhone 3G received the iOS 4.2 software update, which included new features such as YouTube voting, more options in the multitasking tray, and security fixes. The iPhone 3G however did not receive many features including AirPlay and Safari Text Search.

On January 12, 2011, the iOS 4.3 software update beta 1 was issued to developers. However, there are no iPhone 3G download links. The iPhone 3G is no longer supported by Apple in software updates.