A few weeks ago, more than a million new (and old) iPhone users lined up at the Apple Store to pick up the iPhone 3G. (As you probably know, $199 for the 8 GB, $299 for 16 GB.) Considering there were more than six million iPhone users before the new 3G model, many of the previous users opted not to pick it up - not right away, at least.

There are four reasons for this, three of which are Apple's fault.

First, the poor economy here in America. Second, the well-reported hiccups with the iPhone 3G initialization that left some customers waiting hours without an active phone. Third, the almost equally well-reported bump in service contract costs, an increase that could run customers as much as $1,700 more over the course of the two year commitment.

Finally - that which is most important to us - Apple gave the iPhone 3G's much-hyped 2.0 software upgrade to all of us. For free.

I actually missed the boat on launch day, albeit by a few hours, while waiting for iTunes to tell me when the new iPhone 3G software upgrade would be available. It won't tell you. iTunes only checks for new software about every two weeks, which means, at least in my case, I could still be waiting for 2.0.

Regardless, you can check for iPhone software upgrades anytime by plugging in your iPhone and viewing the Summary screen. It will automatically go to the Summary screen, but, just in case, you can always tap the Summary tab, the first tab on the iPhone screen in iTunes.