The Speed: Apple's iPhone 3GS

On Monday, Apple announced the iPhone 3GS at its developers conference in San Francisco, and the announcement was the quietest kind of revolution. The new phone looked exactly like the old one, and the sameness was the strategy: the S stood for speed, the company said, and the speed was the upgrade. The company was selling the same dream faster, and the faster was the future. The reveal is the June 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: in the middle of the worst economy in decades, the company that kept making things people wanted kept winning.

The Speed is the subject of this article: what the 3GS adds, what the software update brings, what the pricing says, and why the phone business had become the most important business in technology. The keynote came on Monday, June 8, and the shelves are being prepared for the next act. The developers filled the hall, the press filled the front rows, and the world watched the stream. This is the story of the announcement, and the story is about the machine that kept running through the crash.

1. The Keynote

The keynote was the annual ritual, and the ritual was the stage. Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference opened in San Francisco, and the developers filled the hall, and the world watched the stream. The company had one story to tell this year, and the story was the phone. The conference was the platform, and the platform was the launchpad. The opening was the moment when the company spoke and the industry listened.

The keynote was also the answer to a question. The iPhone had been on the market for two years, the competition was waking up, and the question was what Apple would do next. The answer was the 3GS, and the answer was more of the same, faster. The company did not need a new shape, the argument went, because the shape was still the best in the business. The keynote was the statement, and the statement was the confidence: Apple did not need a new shape, Apple needed more speed, and the speed was the message. The message was aimed at the faithful and the doubters alike, and the doubters were the ones who needed convincing.

2. The Phone

The phone was the same and different, and the difference was inside. The iPhone 3GS looked like the iPhone 3G, and the look was the point: the design had not aged, so why change it. Under the glass, the phone was new: twice the speed of the old model, a better camera with video recording, voice control, and a digital compass. The upgrades were the substance, and the substance was the sale. The outside was the familiar, and the familiar was the comfort.

The phone was the refinement of the formula. The camera jumped to three megapixels and gained the ability to record video, the feature the fans had begged for, and the compass opened the door to better maps. The speed doubled, the software got faster, and the experience got smoother. The new model was the same phone the world had learned to love, made better at everything the world used it for. The phone was not a reinvention; the phone was the perfection of the pattern. The pattern was the product, and the product was the plan.

3. The Software

The software was the update, and the update was the floodgate. iPhone OS 3.0 arrived with the features the users had demanded for years: cut, copy and paste, the missing basics of the phone, MMS for picture messages, Spotlight search across the device, and push notifications for the apps. The list was the apology, and the apology was the upgrade. The users had waited, and the waiting was finally over.

The software was also the platform's heartbeat. The operating system ran on every iPhone, and the update was free, and the update was the reason the installed base stayed fresh. The developers got more than a thousand new application programming interfaces, and the interfaces were the new tools for the app economy. The tools opened the door to a thousand new kinds of applications, and the applications were the future of the platform. The software was the engine of the ecosystem, and the ecosystem was the moat. The update was the gift, and the gift was the lock-in.

4. The Store

The store was the proof, and the proof was the numbers. At the keynote, Apple announced that the App Store had passed fifty thousand applications and one billion downloads, and the numbers were the story of the platform. Two years after the iPhone, the app economy was not a hope; the app economy was a fact. The numbers were the evidence, and the evidence was the argument.

The store was the difference between Apple and everyone else. The competitors sold phones; Apple sold phones and the ecosystem around them, the store that distributed the software, the payment system that collected the money, the developers who built for the platform. The billion downloads were the traffic, and the traffic was the attraction. The developers came for the audience, and the audience came for the applications, and the circle was the machine. The store was the moat, and the moat was the business. The numbers were the announcement, and the announcement was the triumph. The numbers also explained the timing of the keynote: the store had reached the milestone in the days before the conference, and the milestone was the perfect proof for the platform story.

5. The Prices

The prices were the strategy, and the strategy was the ladder. The new 3GS started at one hundred ninety nine dollars for the sixteen gigabyte model, two hundred ninety nine for thirty two, and the year old 3G dropped to ninety nine. The ladder was the trap: every customer could climb, and every rung was an Apple phone. The choice was not whether to buy an iPhone; the choice was which iPhone to buy.

The prices were also the expansion. The ninety nine dollar iPhone was the assault on the mass market, the phone for the people who had waited, the price that undercut the competition. In the middle of the recession, the pricing was the argument that the premium phone could be a mainstream phone. The price cut was the invitation, and the invitation was the growth. The prices were the scale play, and the scale was the ambition. The ladder was the plan, and the plan was the growth.

6. The Competition

The competition was the backdrop, and the backdrop was the war. The smartphone market was the hottest fight in technology: Palm was launching its new Pre phone the same week, Nokia held the global crown, Research in Motion and its BlackBerry owned the business world, and Google's Android was rising on the first wave of new devices. The field was crowded, and the crowding was the pressure. The rivals were multiplying, and the multiplying was the threat.

The competition was also the validation. Everyone was chasing the iPhone, and the chasing was the compliment. The rivals copied the touchscreen, copied the app store idea, copied the design language, and the copying was the confirmation that Apple had found the future. The copycats were the proof of the original, and the proof was the praise. The war was the context of the 3GS, and the context was the stakes. The rivals were the challengers, and the challengers were the reason Apple could not rest.

7. The Economy

The economy was the storm, and the storm was the background. The recession was the worst since the Depression, the unemployment was climbing, the consumers were hiding their wallets, and the technology industry was cutting and freezing and waiting. The gloom was the mood of the year, and the gloom was the context of the launch. Every company was watching its costs, and the watching was the climate. The contrast was the wonder of the industry: the company in Cupertino was hiring while the rest of the sector shrank, and the hiring was the proof that the phone business was the exception to the recession.

The economy was also the exception. Apple was selling iPhones as fast as it could make them, the reports said, and the reports were the wonder of the industry. The company was growing while the world shrank, and the growth was the proof of the product. The phone was the escape from the recession, the affordable luxury, the device that mattered more than the economy. The exception was the story, and the story was the strength. The storm raged outside, and the keynote went on inside.

8. The Lesson

The lesson of the announcement was about focus, and the focus was the formula. Apple did not chase every market, did not build every product, did not spread itself thin; Apple built a few things and built them better than anyone, and the few things carried the company through the crisis. The 3GS was not a new thing; the 3GS was the same thing, faster, and the sameness was the mastery. The discipline was the design, and the design was the difference.

The lesson was also about the platform. The phone was the hardware, but the store and the software and the developers were the machine, and the machine was worth more than the hardware alone. The company that owns the platform owns the future, and the future was the point. The keynote is the June 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: in the middle of the worst economy in decades, the company that kept making things people wanted kept winning. The announcement came on Monday, and the shelves would tell the rest of the story.

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