Apple refused to confirm rumors that a 3G version of the iPhone will launch this summer, despite claiming during a conference call to discuss its Q2 results that a number of exciting products are in the pipeline.

Apple sold more 1.7 million iPhones during its most recent financial quarter, more than the company had expected, said Tim Cook, chief operating officer at Apple. "Currently [aggregate iPhone] inventories are low in both the stores and the channel" in the U.S. and Europe, Cook said. A contributor to the low inventory could be the significant numbers of iPhones bought with the intent of unlocking, Cook said.

[ See related story on  Apple's quarterly results and the company's plans for the iPhone. ]

Unlocked iPhones are being used in a number of countries where carriers don't yet offer Apple's handset, which indicates strong worldwide demand for the phone, Cook said. Apple plans to introduce the iPhone into more countries in Europe and Asia-Pacific later this year.

Apple remains confident in reaching its goal of selling 10 million iPhones in calendar 2008, said Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer.

The company plans to deliver iPhone 2.0 software as a free download -- support applications developed using the SDK announced by Apple in March -- in late June. The SDK has already been downloaded 200,000 times and is being used in one-third of the Fortune 500 companies to develop applications for the iPhone, Oppenheimer said.

The SDK could also broaden the appeal of the iPod Touch as more applications are developed, Oppenheimer said. The iPod Touch is a portable media player with the iPhone design, but without phone features. Revenue from iPods for the quarter was $4 billion.

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