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For Apple and, in particular, iPhone fanboys, June 9th was a day among days. The excitement was not only palpable on the various gadget, iPhone and Apple sites, it was specifically discussed: A site I visited that was streaming live video coverage of Apple’s WWDC 2008 featured three guys, one of whom asked the question “Is there any other conference that’s as exciting as this?”

Well, yes, actually, pretty much any conference that’s really exciting to its participants is as exciting as this.

But I doubt I could have convinced them of that. No matter, though. By the end of the keynote address, the iPhone 3G had in fact been announced, but there were no surprises and there was no “one more thing” from Apple frontman Steve Jobs. The snappy, zappy excitement in the iPhone air had fizzled to a reluctant “So, um, I guess that’s it.”

And for the next 72 hours, the same blogs were filled with all sorts of rehash about the second generation iPhone. But one thing was obvious. People were disappointed.

Among the rumors that didn’t come true were:

• A front-facing camera for video conferencing
• New models of iPhones in different sizes, including a smaller-screened version with a slide-out physical keyboard
• Copy & paste
• A 32GB version
• A higher-resolution camera
• The ability to shoot video
• MMS messaging

No, none of these things was announced. What we did end up with is a faster iPhone, sporting 3G access for a little better than 2x faster web browsing and data transmission when compared with the original iPhone. That’s a good thing. We also get A-GPS, which is pretty cool, because it opens the iPhone up to better mapping, route guidance (depending on which rumors you believe now) and a host of location-based services and applications. And we get better hardware pricing, thanks to a restructuring of Apple’s deal with AT&T that includes subsidies, which weren’t available before. Oh, and the iPhone will now be available in black or white. So all you ladies driving white VW cabrios can now have a phone to match.

People who’ve gotten to play with the iPhone 3G for a few minutes swear that the radio is better, too, offering improved call quality vs. the 1st gen model. And that’s always a something to cheer about. Unless you’re an adult in a Charlie Brown cartoon, where it wouldn’t matter.

But in light of what wasn’t included in the new iPhone, the blogosphere has been abuzz with how Apple should have done more, and about how they’ve made a misstep here.

I completely disagree.

What Apple has done is, strategically, very smart indeed. Look at it this way: The first iPhone was released almost a year ago, and it was their first cell phone. Ever. Although there are plenty of other phones with more features, the iPhone blew away everything else in terms of its cool factor, design and ease of use. And in the last year, not a single long-term player has been able to come out with or even announce a phone that could be genuinely called an “iPhone killer”. Not Samsung. Not Nokia. Not Sony-Ericsson. Not Motorola. Or LG or Sanyo or…is there anybody else?

Apple could easily have gone into feature overdrive and included much more than they did, readying a head-spinning array of new features while everybody else played catch-up. Instead, they took a great phone and followed it up with a great gamble: They turned the iPhone into a platform.

Instead of cramming a zillion new features into the 2nd gen iPhone, they concentrated on the most important ones: Speed and price. And they threw in GPS, I imagine, because it allowed the rest of the strategy to flourish even more.

By turning the iPhone from a swanky gadget into a full-fledged handheld computing platform, Apple has effectively made it next to impossible for anybody else to actually catch up. Regardless of how cool of a phone someone comes out with, how can they compete with a mobile telephony and computing platform that already has hundreds of developers creating 3rd party apps, not to mention native iTunes support and the ease-of-use of the iTunes experience?

Recently-announced phones such as the Samsung Instinct are pretty darn cool. But if you’re looking at the Instinct vs. the iPhone and you already have an iTunes account, why choose the Instinct? On top of this. early word on the street is that the Instinct’s web browser and browsing experience is dismal.

And even though Windows Mobile, which I currently use, does have the developers behind it, what it lacks is a fun experience. WM feels slow, like it’s always struggling to get stuff done. It’s also not pretty, especially when compared with the iPhone’s fluid, breezy interface. And the WM experience is vastly different depending on which device you’re using.

My HTC Wing through T-Mobile, for instance, is downright dreadful. It’s slow. It has a ridiculously low amount of memory, the screen is sub-par and the keyboard, while usable, isn’t consistent in terms of its tactile-ness from key to key.

Other phones, such as the forthcoming Sony Xperia X1, have attempted to wrap the WM OS in a pretty interface, but have succeeded only marginally. It’ll be interesting to see how the Xperia actually turns out, but I imagine it’ll cost at least $599…probably more. And how much of the WM OS and experience can the Xperia actually wrap within its flippy, twirly touchscreen interface?

No, Apple definitely made the right move at the right time. On July 11th, the iPhone 3G will be on sale. Likely by then (or the same day), the iPhone App Store will be online, and iPhone and iPod Touch users will be able to get 3rd party apps of all varieties to run on their devices.

Once that momentum gets going, it’ll be incredibly difficult to stop. Apple can then add all the nifty new features to the next iPhone that they want. Just speculating here, of course, but a 32GB version will probably be available by Chistmas. Video recording may be available through a software update later this year as well. Perhaps the next version of the iPhone will include that front-mounted lens for video calls.

And until that next version is announced, iPhone users (one of which I plan to be, come July 11th) will be walking around smiling as they slide their fingers around on their iPhone 3G screens. And Apple, meanwhile, will be laughing all the way to the bank.