Sounds exciting, doesn't it? Actually, when you think about it, while it technically is news, it brings nothing new to the table. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson declared at a California meeting that the 3G iPhone is coming next year, but he didn't provide any specifics or a more precise time frame. He did say that them and Apple are already in the development phase, though. At least now we know this thing is certain.
As you can remember, the initial reason why iPhone did not have 3G is battery life, although I personally don't see what all the fuss is about: I've got a phone with quite a big screen and UMTS (Sony Ericsson P1i) and the battery life is just fine with 3G turned on. However, I don't agree with the camp that says that 3G isn't important for the iPhone. A big part of the iPhone experience is mobile web and everything slower than 3G is simply too slow.