iPhone in handIf the idea of giving or receiving an iPhone this holiday season is lingering in the back of your mind, you may want to hold off on that purchase because a significant iPhone upgrade may be coming sooner than you think.

In a meeting yesterday in California, Randall Stephenson, AT&T's chief executive officer said that a 3G variant of the iPhone will be available next year, according to Bloomberg. Stephenson added that a price for the revised iPhone has yet to be determined and that Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, would be the one to set the price.

Since the iPhone's launch this summer, one of the primary complaints has been slow data speeds, as result of the decision to limit the iPhone to EDGE speeds. Jobs said that the decision to not include 3G support in the iPhone initially surrounded how it would impact the iPhone's battery life. He called the chips used for 3G technology "real power hogs" and that battery life of 3G devices hover in the sub-five hour range. Currently the iPhone has a rated battery life of eight hours. In PC World lab tests the iPhone had a battery life of 10 hours.

Apple has made it very clear it has a 10 million unit sales goal is set for the end of 2008. A significant upgrade such as 3G speeds to the iPhone may be the boost needed to accomplish the goal, as long as Apple can still maintain a reasonable battery.

The 3G iPhone would be the second big iPhone upgrade slated for 2008. Previously, Apple announced that a Software Developers Kit would be made available for the handset in February, opening up potential for homegrown applications on the iPhone. The idea of 3G speeds on the iPhone also opens up the idea for more powerful applications that require broadband-like speeds to be utilized by the iPhone, such as mobile TV and other streaming media applications.

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