It’s the news that many, many of us iPhone geeks have been long waiting for: the announcement of iPhone OS 3.0 and it’s all-in-wonder features: cut, copy and paste, MMS, bluetooth file transfer, etc…

In a press-only event at Apple HQ in Cupertino, California, Apple engineers and SVP’s demoed the latest in the god-phone’s upcoming capabilities. Earlier in the week we covered the rumours of MMS, copy and paste, and data-tethering. Okay, so data-tethering wasn’t officially announced during the main event, but while in the Q&A section, it was mentioned that it could be supported by third-party applications and cellular networks.

Also new to the OS, is the ability to purchase items within your 3rd party applications. For example, an ebook-reader (like Amazon’s Kindle for iPhone) could make available the option to buy new books in the application itself and have it charged to your iTunes account. Or game developers could sell new levels to their games, while in game! The possibilities, like with everything Apple, are endless. There’s even support for subscriptions in the new pricing model.

Good news for developers is that the long-awaited Push Notification Service will finally be in the next version. Apple noted that developer feedback played a key role in their decision to delay the service as it instigated new hurdles they didn’t previously address. Also in the pipeline is native bluetooth support. Using Bonjour, Apple’s MDNS service, you can create peer-to-peer connections via bluetooth to send business cards, play multiplayer games, and talk to other iPhone accessories like an Bluetooth FM transmitter.

Developers can now also natively integrate Google Maps into the apps. Although if you’re planning on developing a turn-by-turn based voice-enabled GPS application you’ll need to “bring your own maps” as licensing issues prohibit Google from using it Maps images in third-party commercial applications.

Other new features include Voice Memo, the ability to record your thoughts; CalDAV and ICS subscription support in Calendar; Landscape typing in all Apple apps (Mail, Notes, SMS); Spotlight search, look for information just like how you would using Spotlight on your Mac; a new Stock app; and forward and delete multiple messages in the SMS app (finally!).

So… what’s this gonna cost? It’s free if you’re an iPhone 3G user, and $9.95 for iPod Touch (and presumably 1st gen iPhone users). Although… due to hardware differences, 1st Gen iPhone users won’t be able to enjoy enhanced features like A2DP or MMS.

Images courtesy of Engadget.

Tags: Apple, bluetooth, Bonjour, caldav, in-app purchasing, iPhone, maps, OS, peer-to-peer, SMS, spotlight