At the end of this week iPhone fans will have the chance to buy one of Apple's new 3GS handsets, but today those who don't want to fork out for a new phone can download the software - the iPhone operating system 3.0 - instead.
Despite the false rumour - regrettably propagated by me - that the release was being delayed (and, man, am I sorry for jumping the gun and spreading that piece of misinformation) the iPhone 3.0 software is now out and reports are starting to come in of people using it in the wild. Be careful, though: our own Aleks Krotoski says attempting the update bricked her phone.
But enough caveats, what does it actually do?
You can look through some of the details in our handy gallery, but the basics include multimedia messaging, cut and paste, push notifications and an enhanced development kit that opens more of the device to programmers.
Useful updates, all - but it's interesting that they are in the software. You can buy a 3GS on Friday, and get the added power, but you'll get be able to do pretty much everything it can by downloading a free bit of kit from Apple.
That's a point put forward by America's pre-eminent gadget reviewer, Walt Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal, who says that although "power users will crave the new model's much-better performance, battery life, storage and other features" that most of the improvements are available to everyone:
Current iPhone owners can get an improved product by merely sticking with their existing phones and upgrading to the feature-laden new operating system
Some advances are held back for the 3GS: video recording, voice control, digital compass. But the changes that are important to most people are not exclusive to the new handset - which begs the question of whether people will be willing to pay the higher prices charged by O2.
(Arguments that O2 is treating its customers poorly are only likely to increase after the news that American network AT&T is slashing the price of an upgrade for existing subscribers)
Pay double the price and you get a handset with more punch - but the fundamental stuff is just the same. Will you be sticking with the less expensive 3G model?
