As expected, Apple announced today the launch of its next generation iPhone, and the new phone will come with a price tag that is $200 less than the current model. The new 3G iPhones are going to hit the market with a $199 price tag.

A big reason for the release of the the new iPhones is the desire by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to hit their goal of selling 10 million phones by the end of the year. The new phone will have faster Internet connection and satellite navigation capabilities. If you are like me, and have been postponing the purchase of a new phone in anticipation of today's announcement, you will have to wait a bit longer. The new phones will be available on July 11.

While the new phones will be about half the price of the current models, the monthly service plans will be a bit higher. Look for a $39.99 monthly plan, plus another $30 monthly fee for unlimited data. This works out to be about a $10 monthly increase, but considering the improvements of the new phones, not too bad of a deal if you ask me. Supposedly the new iPhones will be able to download data twice as fast as the current model.

As cell phone usage continues to spread, more and more Americans are rarely, if ever, talking on landlines anymore. According to a new study, 3 out of 10 homes in the country are virtually completely relying on cell phones.

Cell phones are definitely more convenient, and the more we use them, the more we want to put the days of landlines in our past. According to the study, 16 percent of all homes in the country did not even have a landline installed during the second half of last year.

In addition to the 16 percent of homes that did not even have a landline, 13% of homes in the country had landlines, but reportedly never use them. For the most part, these lines are used exclusively for computers, or to have in the case of an emergency. Whenever you need to call an emergency service number it is advisable to use a landline, because it makes it much easier to identify your location.

Handset maker Sony Ericsson beat analysts' estimates for the fourth quarter of 2007 and said that the company is gaining market share. In a surprising development, the company said, "The average sales price (ASP) of its mobile phones, a key indicator for profitability, rose to 123 euros from 120 euros in the third quarter," according to Reuters.

The company's share of the global handset market is now close to 10%. Units shipped in the quarter reached 30.8 million, an 18% increase from a year earlier.

The news may be good for Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Even if the economy is slowing, consumers may be willing to spend $200 for a new phone. Increasing business in regions like China and India is not driving down "price per handset." It may be that the emergence of more expensive "smartphones" is helping keep average prices high.

As 3G networks continue to be built out, consumers may find it necessary to upgrade their handsets to take advantage of higher connection speeds.

It is an early indication, but the cellphone industry may be bucking the trend of an economic slowdown.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

It was certainly an exciting year for wireless. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPhone was a game changer, there were some big announcements from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), and even Nokia (NYSE: NOK) made an impressive comeback.

As for 2008, it's a good bet we'll continue to see some big headlines.

I interviewed Frank Dickson, who is the chief research officer at MultiMedia Intelligence. According to him:

The handset as a platform: The introduction of the iPhone was the first example of this. It did not create the trend, but it did add fuel to the fire. Google's Android and a rumored Java-based OS are elements of the developing trend. Essentially, we are seeing the rise of a new class of mobile devices that are applications centric with voice functionality. These devices are internet browsers, music players, text messengers, and e-mail devices. Yes, they still make voice calls, but they are clearly optimized for other uses. Operators such as Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) are seeing the coming explosion of this product class and have embraced it by opening their networks to these devices.

The question of whether or not Americans would be willing to dish out close to $600 for a new iPhone has already been answered. The iPhone was definitely one of the (if not the) biggest product launches of 2007, and just how successful Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s new iPhone has been doing was made even more obvious with its third quarter sales figures.

Sales have been so good in fact, that in its first full quarter of sales, the revolutionary iPhone outsold all other smartphones with the exception of the BlackBerry from Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM). This is an accomplishment that is even more impressive when you consider the obstacles that the iPhone was up against:

• iPhones have been placed on sale only in the United States
• iPhones are available for service only with AT&T (NYSE: T)
• iPhones were not available in some pretty large markets inside the United States, including much of Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota and Alaska

The next frontier for social networking is mobile. And, early next year, News Corp (NYSE: NWS)'s MySpace will launch its own offering.

Interestingly enough, Sprint (NYSE: S) wants to be a part of the crowd and has struck a deal with MySpace (terms were not disclosed). Sprint customers will get free access, so long as they have a data plan.

Working to open up the broadband spectrum in the US is not enough. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) wants consumers to connect their devices to the internet without having to pay charges to carriers, but its grand plan goes beyond that.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Google is pushing both handset companies and cell carriers to use devices loaded with the search company's software. The company hopes that this foot-hold will allow it to become a leader in wireless advertising.

Several companies are recoiling from Google's advances. Verizon Wireless says Google wants too large a piece of the advertising carried on phones.

Google's plans may not work out. Handset companies and cell operators like T-Mobile have probably already convinced themselves that allowing consumers to download their own preferred search and GPS functions or to offer a broad spectrum of these services pre-loaded onto phones is the way to keep people happy. Not everyone want to use GMail or Google Maps.

Google wants to drive a wireless market where the hallmark is choice for the consumer. Open spectrum that allows devices to connect to broadband over the air would permit handset owners to use their phones to download a huge number of software applications without paying a toll.

But, Google's actions say that those applications should be the ones that it builds and not those from its competition.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

There have been vague rumors that Dell might enter the mobile phone business someday, as it hired former Motorola marketing and design whiz Ron Garriques earlier this year to re-energize its product lineup and get some energy into Dell's (NASDAQ: DELL) boring consumer product lineup. So far, things look to have gotten off to a very nice start, judging from newer Dell XPS laptops released a few weeks ago that finally have some style without a $1,500 price (most consumer notebook PCs sell for under $1,000).

Competitor Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) has a decent record in producing PDAs that run the Windows Mobile operating system, and perhaps it is looking at some way to enter the mobile phone business as well? HP's strategy, most likely, would involve the "smartphone" segment of mobile handsets (currently dominated by Treo and BlackBerry) that are used by business professionals and others attached to email and web every minute of the day instead of the immensely competitive mobile handset market.

How about a partnership with the world's larger most phone maker, Nokia (NYSE: NOK)? Rumor has it that HP's Indian unit may indeed use its manufacturing expertise to assist Nokia in making mobile smartphones that feature Indian-language capabilities. India's mobile population is growing fast and as more and more population tiers begin using mobile telecommunications (places where telecom infrastructure is bare), the market could be incredibly ripe for Nokia and HP as a device manufacturer. The plan is to target areas where the English-speaking population is lower than in urban centers, but consumers still need a mobile communications device (possibly with Internet access).

And you thought you got a lot of annoying phone calls from telemarketers and the like. UCLA student Shira Barlow received a new phone number from her wireless provider after she broke her phone, but there was just one problem: It wasn't a new number. It was a recycled number and not too long ago, it had belonged to Paris Hilton.

According to E! News, Ms. Barlow received text messages and phone calls from Paris's friends asking for information about parties, and they also offered their support for her during her upcoming stay in jail. Once the heiress was in jail of course, the calls tapered off. After her appearance on Larry King, Barlow received a text saying that "It's disgusting how they treated you in there, but once again you have showed the world that you can do anything."

Interestingly, Barlow has opted not to change her number, according to the Los Angeles Times, because the messages from Paris's friends have been more entertaining than annoying.

I wonder how many people would opt not to change their numbers. I'm guessing most young people would get a kick out of "being" Paris Hilton, at least on the phone. It's fun to feel like a celebrity.

Lost in all of the hype about the Apple (AAPL) iPhone is the fact the Federal Communications Commission had not approved the product for sale. That changed yesterday as it got the "thumbs up". It may be that there was little risk involved in the approval process, but it certainly signals that Apple cannot blame any delay on outside forces. There have been some rumors that the project had been pushed back. But, Apple shot those down.

Apple's shares moved up yesterday, to over $109, perhaps due to the FCC news. But, now it is the iPhone that has to carry the ball for the shares. Good sales of the Mac and iPhone are almost certainly built into the price.

Berstein Research projects that Apple will sell 7 million iPhones in 2007 and 15 million in 2008. "At a minimum of $499 each, that's $3.4 billion to $7.5 billion in annual iPhone revenue for Apple." With a current annual revenue run rate of about $25 billion, that would be a significant boost.

But, all of that is "priced into" the stock, as they say on Wall Street. If the iPhone does not sell two million or three million units in the July though September quarter, those numbers will be viewed as too aggressive. And, that is what expectations can do to share prices. Investors will be looking to that quarter as perhaps the key quarter for Apple since the iPod launched. One glitch, one stumble, and Apple's stock price cannot hold.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

It was only a few weeks ago that I started reading about the plight of commercial bees in Oregon, where I live, and other nearby agricultural states: some mysterious force was causing what's called "Colony Collapse Disorder" for untold (but, by all guesses, large) numbers of bees used for pollinating crops up and down the Pacific Coast. One beekeeper said that the vast majority of his colonies had just disappeared -- the bees would leave, and never return to the hive, presumably dying from hunger. Despite the seeming widespread nature of the problem, agricultural authorities wouldn't confirm its severity, and no one had solid numbers.

Until now, a variety of unrelated and unsatisfactory theories had been surfaced, though none even seemed half-right. Global warming. A bad batch of the high-fructose corn syrup typically used to feed commercial bees. Genetically modified crops. Pesticides. Mites. In the past few days I've seen several bees around my home, buzzing in and then fizzling out, dying slow, awful deaths on the sidewalk or windowsill. My stomach began to sink. Bees are vital to the health of so many of the world's plants. What could be done?

Now a report from Britain, where bee losses are still denied by agricultural authorities, although beekeepers are raising the alarm (U.S. beekeepers claim 60% of West Coast populations and 70% of East Coast bees have vanished): cell phone signals are disrupting bees' natural navigation systems. While alarmist, it makes sense; when cell phones are on, they're constantly crying for attention, pinging whatever tower is nearby every few minutes so that the home tower can keep track of the signal and send in whatever calls or messages come its way. Think of all the millions of pings that bounce back and forth across agricultural areas every week.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist and never worried about fears that cell phones cause brain cancer and cell death (although the reports seem to indicate this could be true). But after reading these reports my first urge is to turn off all the cell phones in the family and only use them for emergencies. If this is true, cell phones could become the SUV of 2008; a public display of a human putting its own comfort above the needs of the environment at large. And I'm sticking to land-based stocks for now!