Apple store stuffs our camera - 3G iPhone on July 11

I knew it was a risky proposition trying to film inside an Apple store on the same day that Steve Jobs was unveiling the 3G iPhone.

Still, I had to find someway to justify the time spent outside the office on a sunny day in San Francisco, so I flipped the camera on and hoped for the best.

Although they gave my camera the hand stuff about a minute in, I was able to capture some shots of Jobs' presentation -- being given blocks away at the Moscone Center -- on one of the many iMacs around which iPhone loyalists in the store had gathered.

The store was packed with a wide range of hungry consumers -- tourists who didn't  have a clue there was a new iPhone coming out to Apple loyalists hungry for a new iPhone. Blogger Robert Scoble was there of course. Is there anywhere this guy isn't?

Chad X, who gave me his last name but then begged me not to use it, said he had a friend at Apple headquarters who told that he "wouldn't be wasting his time if he came down to the store" just off Union Square.

"If they sell it today, I'm going to buy it today," he said.

Others came from as far away as Amsterdam -- but the Dutch had their priorities straight.

As a crowd gathered to watch Jobs' speech being video-blogged on enGadget, Wouter Broekhof, of the software firm Wakoopa, said he and his two friends would wait only until they had to leave to watch the final game of the European soccer cup.

Jobs ran through a list of the product's features. Some of those targeted at the enterprise market may send some chills into the hearts of Research in Motion executives, whose BlackBerry has so far dominated the prosumer market for push email handhelds.

Using the capabilities and availability of 3G networks, Jobs unveiled a new service called Mobile Me, which will store info in the cloud and allow apps and data to be synced between your iPhone and you iMac.

The battery is also much improved over the first iPhone -- Jobs claimed 300 hours of standby battery time.

But the most aggressive move came on pricing, where Apple decided to sell the 8Gb version for just $199, with a two-year AT&T contract, while the 16Gb iPhone will go for $299. 

Still, all of those who were willing to wait in line were disappointed to find out that the new iPhone won't be available until July 11.