news-record.com

Forget fun and sun.

This is the smartphone summer.

Apple today will begin selling the latest version of the iPhone, a device that does everything from placing calls to playing music. The debut comes on the heels of rival Palm's Pre, which went on sale two weeks ago, just before T-Mobile releases a new phone based on Google technology, and in advance of RIM's new "Tour" Blackberry.

''We are seeing the heat of an intense marketing war starting up," said Jeff Kagan, a telecommunications analyst in Atlanta.

Apple set a new standard two summers ago with its first iPhone. Other gadgets could compete with the basics. But nothing rivaled the gee-whiz of the touch-screen iPhone, which let developers create games and other software.

The California computer company introduced an upgraded version last summer that, like the first, prompted consumers to wait in line for hours. Expect long lines again today -- the Triangle's Apple Stores at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh and The Streets at Southpoint in Durham are opening at 7 a.m. -- but, perhaps, a little less luster on the iPhone, which starts at $199.

The new model isn't much different than the previous one. And Apple has started selling that older version for $99 to win more consumers.

The smartphone market is a lucrative one because it's among the only bright spots in the wireless industry. Shipments of the devices rose 13 percent last quarter while overall sales declined, according to market researcher Gartner.

Apple likely will sell 500,000 of its new iPhones this weekend, according to a Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst. That's about half as many as in the first weekend of the last version because the new iPhone is going on sale in fewer countries.

The new iPhone will still be a hit, it's just clearer that it's not the only smartphone on the market, Kagan said. And this summer, "They are coming at us from all directions."