June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. sent an e-mail to consumers interested in the iPhone telling them they'll need an account on its iTunes online store to set up the device.

The message, titled ``Get Ready for iPhone,'' was sent today to people who signed up for news about the product, said Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple. The iPod-based mobile phone will be released in the U.S. June 29.

Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said the iPhone will be Apple's third main business, alongside the Macintosh computer and iPod music and video player, which each ring up annual sales of about $10 billion. Apple expects to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008 to capture a 1 percent share of the mobile-phone market.

``When your first iPhone is coming to the end of its life, and you are looking at what to get next, you will be more likely to get an iPhone again because your media flow is on iTunes,'' Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis, said. ``Forcing people to set up an iTunes account gets iPhone users to standardize on iTunes.''

An iTunes account is ``necessary to set up your iPhone,'' the e-mail said. Apple advises prospective buyers to also begin preparing contact and calendar information and their music and photos for transfer to the device.

The company will start selling the iPhone in its retail stores on June 29 at 6 p.m. in each U.S. time zone, Jobs told attendees at the company's annual developers meeting yesterday. Apple will offer a 4-gigbatye version for $499 and an 8-gigabyte model for $599.

AT&T Inc., the largest U.S. mobile-phone service provider, will also carry the phone, which requires a two-year service contract. The San Antonio-based company said the iPhone has attracted interest from more than 1 million customers since Apple unveiled it in January.

Anticipation for iPhone sales helped propel Apple's market value above $100 billion last month for the first time in the company's 31-year history. The shares closed at a record high of $124.49 last week. They rose 19 cents to $120.38 at 4 p.m. New York time today in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

To contact the reporter on this story: Connie Guglielmo in San Francisco at cguglielmo1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 12, 2007 16:12 EDT