Apple says the iPhone 3.0 software detailed today will be available “this summer”. Here’s how you should decipher that: There will be a new iPhone out this summer.

I find it hard to believe Apple would allow consumers to run out and check out the new Palm Pre without first causing some necks to crane at a new piece of hardware.

Also, Apple needs iPhones in as many hands as possible. Which means it’s market share has to increase tech-knowledgeable boomers and gadget-loving kids if they want a growing piece of the mobile pie. While today’s announced software update are certainly sweet, that just won’t reign in these audiences.

Or who knows. Maybe it is good enough? After all, no one can market software as good as Apple. And we are in a recession as well. iPhones, and the plans they come with, aren’t cheap. There’s also nothing to suggest that they’re capable of building a faster, thinner, cheaper and larger iPhone right now.

So again, time will tell. But after a complete overhaul of their Mac lineup, what else will there be left to boast about come June? As “this summer”, the season that’s included the launch of the last two iPhones, draws near I won’t be surprised if Apple has more bullets in the barrel.