Everybody’s atwitter about the invite-only media event today where Apple will unveil iPhone OS 3.0. It was just a little over a year ago that Apple released iPhone OS 2.0, and with it the App Store. Many Apple heavyweights like Ars Technica and Macworld have chimed in with their list of what they would like to see in iPhone OS 3.0; copy-and-paste seems to take the crown, along with ability to run background apps. While both of these basic features have been lacking in the world’s most advanced smartphone, I believe that Apple will not only deliver these simple functionalities long clamored for by iPhone owners and critics, but will hit a homerun with some of the revisions.

The reasons behind Apple’s success in the last decade are varied, and I touched on one of them in my first column last week. Today, I’ll touch on another, one that is best explained by Wayne Gretzky, the Canadian hockey great. Gretzky says: “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” In our terms as it pertains to this column, all of Apple’s competitors are the good hockey players that play where the puck is, but Apple’s played since Jobs’ return twelve years ago to where the puck is going to be.

Let’s take the most recent (and relevant to today’s event) example of the iPhone. The iPhone has been a game-changing since its introduction in January 2007 at Macworld Expo because of its user interface via touchscreen. The phone has been such a success in the amount of hype its attracted and generated in the press and elsewhere that cell phone manufacturers like Nokia that commands almost 40% of the world’s volume of cell phones has introduced a touchscreen phone for the first time, simply to compete and keep up with the iPhone that commands approximately 1% of the volume. In April 2008, The New York Times ran an article about the mobile industry’s obsession to beat the iPhone. Samsung introduced the Instinct, LG put out the Vu, and if current reports are to be believed, even Dell, Asustek, and Acer – all traditionally PC manufacturers – are contemplating a move into the cell phone industry. Even BlackBerry manufacturer, Research in Motion, has released the first touchscreen BlackBerry called the Storm.

While touchscreen smartphones were the big thing last spring among Apple’s rivals, it’s an App Store this time around. Due to Apple’s success with the App Store since it was opened to developers in March 2008, Nokia, Windows Mobile, Palm, and BlackBerry have all opened or announced plans to open their version of the App Store for their platform. And so far, I’ve just analyzed the iPhone and its impact on the industry and its rivals. We could talk about the iPod and the Mac next if I had more time and space.

The takeaway here is Gretzky’s quote: with the iPhone/App Store and iPod/iTunes Store in particular – both have provided the halo effect to the Mac in the last eight years – Apple has succeeded largely by skating to where the puck is going to be, whereas its rivals are still skating to where the puck is. Sure you can copy and improve on an industry trend – a strategy that has proven extremely successful for Microsoft in its entire history – however, today’s consumer is less forgiving and more artistic and usability-minded, and in both areas, Apple continues to outdo and out-innovate its rivals consistently. I won’t be surprised if iPhone OS 3.0 introduces more goodies that its competitors will still be trying to catch up to in spring of 2010.