The rumor of the day has been a possible iPod Touch 3G model may. be. coming soon, perhaps as early as this fall, if you believe that we are on the cusp of an iPhone 5.

The iPod Touch 3G would be like an iPad 3G — lots of data, but not “actually” a phone. Plug in Skype or the incredible Line2 app, and you’re “almost” a real cell phone.

In real life, this product doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and that’s not just because an obscure Dutch website “broke” the story.

A “lite” iPhone, which is what a 3G iPod Touch would be, doesn’t make sense for these reasons:

• Manufacturers have essentially stopped making accessories for the iTouch. It’s a dying product. It was amazing. It is amazing, but…
• The iPhone 3GS is just about free if you sign a contract. Why pay for a lite iPhone, when you can get a real one?
• As ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes writes: “Do you really think that just after announcing the iPhone 5 (or whatever it ends up being called) Steve Jobs is going to pause, then turn back to the audience and say “oh, and one more thing … here’s a crappier, cheaper version of the new iPhone we just announced!”? I don’t think so!”

But hey, it’s an Apple rumor!

The folks over in Cupertino flipped the switch on the iPhone 3.0 firmware update just a short while ago, so it’s time to fire up iTunes, plug your phone in, and get the 230MB update so you can have cool new features like MMS messaging “" oh wait, we’re not getting that until the end of the summer. Well, you can always get data tethering “" oh wait, AT&T hasn’t announced any plans to offer tethering in the US.

OK, so obviously those are a couple disappointments, but we’re still getting landscape keyboards across all apps, system-wide spotlight, and push notifications (as soon as the app developers implement them) among many other improvements. A scan of the Twit-scape shows that there are speedy downloads and no major hiccups for people installing. So give it a go, and let us know how it works for you. We forgot our cord at home today, so we won’t be installing until tonight.

Update (3:31 p.m.): Looks like we spoke too soon. It appears that while Apple’s download servers had plenty of capacity, the activation servers couldn’t handle the rush of people itching for iPhone 3.0, and many people are stuck with an updated, but non-active, shiny brick. It could be a while before the activation servers come back up, so everyone will likely have to just be patient.

And now for the part you’ve all been waiting for:‚  without further ado, here are the new iPhone announcements which have had everyone salivating for months now.

Available June 19, the iPhone 3GS is Apple’s new iPhone hardware. Apple claims that everything on the phone is “twice as fast” at loading apps, sites, and everything else. The device will also feature a faster 3G antenna (7.2Mbps HSDPA, for those who like details), the rumored 3MP auto-focus camera, complete with an API for developers, and a 30 FPS video camera with an associated app to allow for video and photo editing. Another rumor to come true is an internal compass that will orient the maps app depending on which direction you’re facing.

The iPhone also features a new voice control UI, allowing users to make vocal commands such as “Call Mom” or “What song is playing?” all in a live transcripted interface. Snazzy? Sure. Necessary? Probably not. ‚ The phone also features hardware encryption and an improved battery life which should come as a relief to iPhone users everywhere.

The form factor for the iPhone 3GS is staying exactly the same, available in black and white (sorry, no flaming orange iPhones). Storage will also increase–$299 for the 32GB model or $199 for the 16GB model. Still too pricey for you? Pick up the older iPhone 3G for just $99 (yay recessionomics!).

The iPhone OS 3.0, which will ship June 17 to other iPhone users contains many new improvements, most of which have been announced before, but we’ll summarize them anyway: the iPhone is finally getting copy/paste, MMS messaging, system-wide Spotlight that will index your email, contacts, and apps, and a landscape oriented keyboard.

A cool new feature will allow users with MobileMe to locate their phones should they go missing and you’re not in enough hysterics from losing your iPhone to be able to use a computer. Apple announced support for data tethering, but AT&T was notably missing from the list, most likely indicating that iPhone users in the US will be SOL. Safari will be updated to run faster and will auto-fill contact and stored login info.

Push notifications (including text, sound, and “badge”) will finally go live in this release, after much delay. Apps will also be able to access the dock connector, allowing you to use you iPhone with external gadgets, such as TomTom’s new GPS driving device. Peer-to-peer interfacing will allow you to connect to other users to play games or send information such as contacts.

Overall, only Apple could drum up so much publicity for something that is ostensibly just an evolutionary change rather than a revolutionary change. Nevertheless, these developments are still exciting, even if they’re overdue. We’ll let you know what we think when we get our hands on a new iPhone 3GS in just a couple weeks.