Apple Inc. released a new iPhone today, aiming to tempt consumers with faster speed and more features as competitors crowd the market for Web-equipped phones.

The maker of the iPod media player is opening its 211 U.S. stores at 7 a.m. to sell two models of the iPhone 3G S, which offers a video camera and more memory. Those lining up included new customers and current users, who had also bought the first iPhone in 2007 and the second one that came out last year.

“I worship the Apple God,” said Kevin Meaves, 34, who works at the U.S. Defense Department and lined up outside the Apple store in Arlington, Virginia, with about 100 other people. “I have all of Apple’s products and every time something new, better, faster and different comes out I have to have it.”

The latest iPhone will face off against increasingly sophisticated rival products, such as Palm Inc.’s new Pre phone and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry Tour. The Pre, the brainchild of former Apple executive Jonathan Rubinstein, features a touch screen, a slide-out keyboard and the new WebOS operating system.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, also is aiming to broaden the iPhone’s appeal to cost-conscious shoppers. It’s now selling the 8-gigabyte version of the year-old iPhone 3G for $99, half the original price. That may help push iPhone sales to 18 million units this year and 28 million in 2010, said Mike Abramsky, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.

“We are thrilled by the customer response to iPhone 3G S,” said Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman.

(Bloomberg.com)