Tomorrow, Apple will introduce the world to two new iPhones. One will look almost exactly like the current iPhone, the other will look slightly different. Apple will sell millions of each type. And both will hardly matter at all compared to iOS 7.

There’s going to be a lot written about the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C (if that’s what they end up being called) tomorrow, both here and elsewhere. And when they ship, sometime later this month, there will likely be crowds of people mobbing Apple Stores around the world. But unless those people were paying close attention to Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference, they have no idea what they’re buying.

An iPhone’s not just an iPhone, no more than a sandbox is a bunch of lumber nailed together as a square. It’s what’s inside, and how you interact with it, that counts. iPhones are just an iOS delivery system. And iOS 7, which will launch either tomorrow or concurrently with the the new handsets later this month, is the most important package Apple’s sent in a long, long time.

via Apple’s Most Important New Product This Month Won’t Be an iPhone.