Apple released the fifth beta version of iPhone Software 3.0 to developers on Wednesday evening. The beta update also included yet another iTunes 8.2 pre-release build. Apple's last iPhone beta software release came only a week ago, indicating that the company may be increasing the development pace leading into the World Wide Developer Conference in June.

Apparently the beta 5 release focuses more on security changes, which may mean that Apple is close to locking down the feature set that will ship with the official iPhone Software 3.0 release. The update also disables MMS support for developers -- a feature that will should be reactivated in the pubic release.

The update also includes a warning that some iPhones lose data services once beta 5 is installed. Restoring iPhone data service requires a phone call to Apple's Developer Support, which shouldn't be a problem for registered developers, but will likely leave unauthorized users out in the cold.

There aren't any details available yet on the new prerelease version of iTunes 8.2. Since the last pre-release update was necessary to activate the beta 4 version of iPhone Software 3.0, the new iTunes pre-release may be required to activate software beta 5.

Apple plans on releasing iPhone Software 3.0 this summer. The free update for iPhone users will include system-wide Spotlight search support, cut-and-paste support, MMS, and more.

[Thanks to SlashGear for the beta 5 update details.]