v3 of the Google Maps API is now available although it looks to be in a development stage with a "smaller feature set" than v2 but additional features will be migrated from v2. The main difference from v2 appears to be that it is intended to load fast on limited systems (eg. Android and iPhone). Here is Google's own introduction:

Welcome to the release of version 3 of the Google Maps API. This JavaScript API will look similar to the existing version 2 of the Google Maps API. However, much has changed under the hood: Version 3 (called V3 within this document) has been designed to load fast, especially on mobile browsers such as Android-based devices and the iPhone™. The initial launch has a smaller feature set than that available in the V2 API. We will migrate additional features from V2 while working to keep the size of the JavaScript code small and maintain our optimized loading speeds. We welcome your feedback and comments on this version of the Google Maps API within the Google Maps API v3 discussion group.

We've implemented this latest version of the Google Maps API using a modified MVC framework. Any state changes of an MVC object (such as a map) for example, are handled through setters and getters of a particular format. As well, all state of the MVC objects are stored as properties of that object, and all observation of state changes through event handlers is of a particular format as well.

Special emphasis on enabling reliable and fast maps on mobile browsers has been integrated into this API. We encourage you to test out this API on mobile devices and post issues with specific devices to the group noted above.

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