Apple (AAPL) unveiled a new iPhone 3GS at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference as well as the upcoming operating system Snow Leopard.  The computer company also announced updates and price cuts to its popular notebooks and a new version of its Safari Web browser.

iPhone 3GS

“The ‘S’ stands for speed,” says Apple.  That’s the name of the company’s latest version of the iPhone, the 3GS, which will hit shelves on June 19 in the U.S.  And it’s all about speed improvements with the ability to launch applications, view attachments, and load games 2 to 3 times faster.  Even its data speed will see an improvement, as the new device will support AT&T’s (T) upcoming 7.2 Mbps HSPDA network.

AT&T maintains exclusive rights to sell the iPhone.  The carrier recently said it is in the process of performing software upgrades to its towers that will allow it to support this higher speed data.

The iPhone 3GS will sport a new 3.0 megapixel camera with auto focus.  And will capture not only still images better in low-light situations (which is often problematic given the phone’s lack of a flash), but will record videos that can be edited right on the device and sent via email or uploaded directly to YouTube.

For heavy users, battery life will see an improvement.  The device will get 9 hours of Internet using WiFi, 10 hours of video, 30 hours of audio, and 5 hours of 3G talk time.

A 16-gigabyte and 32-gigabyte version will be released and, like the 3G, will be available in black and white.  These will go for $199 and $299, respectively, for new and qualified customers.  Physically, the phones will look the same as the 3G model.

The current 8-gigabyte 3G model’s price is dropping to $99 effective immediately.

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Last year, the iPhone 3G was very difficult to obtain in the first few weeks of its release due to heavy demand.  To make it easier, this year Apple is allowing customers to pre-order the phone and pick it up in the store on June 19.  They can also order the phone and have it delivered on that date.

This announcement comes just days after Palm (PALM) released its Pre handheld device.  Many say it could end up being a serious competitor to the iPhone, as it offers many of the same features, but also has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which the iPhone lacks, as well as a powerful and intuitive operating system of its own.  

The Palm Pre will, at least initially, only be sold through Sprint (S).

iPhone OS 3.0

Apple first showed off many of the 100 new features of the newest iPhone operating system back in March, but announced today that the new OS will be available for download on Wednesday, June 17. 

This will be a free upgrade for current iPhone owners and will cost iPod Touch owners $9.95 (as was the case with the previous 2.0 version).

New features include the highly-anticipated ability to copy and paste as well as multimedia messaging MMS support and push notifications.  iPhone 3.0 will also have a powerful search function that will turn up results from email, contacts, calendar entries, notes, and music on the device.

A new Find My iPhone feature for MobileMe subscribers will use the GPS functionality of the phone to locate the device in the event that it is lost.  It can send a message and have it play an alert so the user will hear it.  And in case the device still can’t be found the user will be able to remotely wipe it of all data, keeping information safe.

MobileMe, launched at the same time as the iPhone 3G last year, is Apple’s cloud-computing service that features push email and keeps contacts, calendar entries, and emails synchronized between several devices.

Voice Control will let users dial numbers in their contacts list by saying names aloud.  When listing to music on it, users can literally ask the iPhone what song is playing and it will answer them.

The phone will support tethering, allowing users to connect the phone to their computers to use its Internet connection on the go.  Of course, the carrier needs to support this feature and at the moment AT&T does not.

Enhancing the GPS functionality of the phone, Apple is adding a digital compass to let users know which direction they're heading.

OS X Snow Leopard

Though Apple says the iPhone runs a version OS X, it’s obviously nowhere near as powerful as the full-fledged computer operating system.  The company formally unveiled the latest version, called Snow Leopard (version 10.6), which will be released in September and will cost just $29 for current Leopard (version 10.5) users.  The Leopard OS, for comparison, was $129.

The new system is similar in name because, according to Apple, it builds on Leopard.  Many tools and features will run much faster in this version with significant improvements in the backend code, says Apple.

Some notable new features include built-in support for Microsoft Exchange in the Mail, iCal, and Address Book applications, potentially making it easier to use Apple computers in an enterprise environment.  QuickTime X will also be introduced, Apple’s multimedia player.

Snow Leopard will no not work on PowerPC processors, however, marking Apple’s final step in transitioning to an Intel (INTC) platform.

MacBook Updates

The company announced updated hardware in its MacBook Pro laptop line as well as significant price cuts on many models. 

The 13-inch MacBook was also bumped up and reclassified as a MacBook Pro.  The model will now last a whopping 7 hours on one battery charge.

And the iconic ultra-slim MacBook Air also got some improvements and will now start at $1499.

Safari 4 Ships

On the software end, Apple announced that a new version Web browser, Safari, is shipping today.  Version 4.0, according to Apple, is faster than Microsoft’s IE 8, Mozilla Firefox 3, and Google’s Chrome 2.

In addition to speed improvements, Apple says Safari 4 will be more stable and less prone to crashing.  When a browser plug-in crashes, for example, Safari won’t crash altogether.  Instead, a user will just see that one part of the page broken.