Apple's new iPhone is seen in this handout photo released January 9, 2007. Regulators approved Apple Inc.'s iPhone for sale in the United States on Thursday paving the way for the much anticipated device to be sold by the wireless unit of AT&T in late June. (Reuters Photo)

    The "grant of equipment authorization" for the device means it is on track for scheduled release next month, said Mark Siegel, a spokesman with Cingular, which will be the only U.S. wireless carrier that will offer the iPhone when it launches.    

    The iPhone, which combines a smart phone with Apple's iPod music and video player, will compete with phones made by Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG Electronics, Samsung, Palm, and carriers Sprint and Verizon.

    Two versions of the so-called smartphones will become available initially. The 4GB phone will cost 499 U.S dollars with a two-year contract with AT&T, and the 8GB phone will sell for 599 dollars.

    The price tag has been called spectacularly high, possibly opening the door for handset makers with similar models. But Apple, whose iPod music device and iTunes service dominate the market, still expects to sell 10 million of the phones in 2008.

    Some of the FCC documents confirm the phones, sporting bigger screens, music, video and Web-surfing capabilities, will operate in the 1900MHz and 850MHz frequency bands, which means users won't be able to roam with it into Europe, where operators use different frequencies.

    The phone uses GSM technology and the low-speed GPRS wireless data standard. Apple has said the phone will ship initially only in the U.S., but many GSM phones today are capable of operating in both Europe and the U.S.

    Eager potential users who hoped for a faster data connection will be disappointed that the approval is only for GPRS, which delivers data rates comparable to dial-up. Many operators, including Apple partner AT&T, have upgraded from GPRS to deliver download speeds of about 500Kbps or more.

    Sony Ericsson President Miles Flint said that, regardless of the iPhone's success, convergent devices are poised to grow in popularity.

    "The phone is capable of doing many other things," he said. "People want to have any content, any time, any where on their device and that is leading to the phone being a mobile Internet gateway entry point. The trend is clear."