So it's finally happened, and deep down, we all knew it was coming...the 3G iPhone was announced at the Apple WWDC keynote this morning. Among the new features confirmed today, Steve Jobs also announced that the new iPhone will feature built-in GPS, as well as a more robust iPhone developer SDK including access to powerful development tools such as Cocoa Touch, their development framework for building applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

What does this mean for rich Internet applications? Well the obvious answer is that with the iPhone running on 3G networks, we can now expect more robust and full-featured web applications to be created to run natively on the iPhone. But, with the further announcement of built-in GPS, we can also expect a slew of location-based services popping up. This single aspect of iPhone development is what sets it apart from conventional RIA development for desktop environments. It is also an area that is almost untouched in the current RIA space.

Finally, with the robust SDK and powerful development tools, building these applications will be easy. And let's not forget that releasing these tools to the public and allowing third-party applications, will drive an onslaught of developers to utilize the iPhone's unique features, such as the small, high-resolution screen, accelerometer, multi-touch interface, and now GPS. iPhone development, and mobile development in general, is continuing to thrive. We still have a lot of room to grow in this arena and with the latest announcements today, this is a very exciting time.

Read more from Charles Bihis.