OS is always more important - Aaron L. M. Goodwin

For me, the OS is more interesting because of the new application platform. Also, as the App Store is available to iPod Touch users as well, its reach is potentially more broad. The barrier to entry for the software/OS is small, while the barrier to entry to upgrade hardware and service to an iPhone 3G, for first-generation users, or non-iPhone users will be too much for many people. - Louis Gray

It's all about the apps—hands down. - James Mowery from twhirl

The firmware and the app store are monumental. Much more than incremental hardware upgrades. That's why I kept my 1st gen unit. It offers 98% of the funtions of the new hardware. Including LBS. One of many thoughts: http://bit.ly/3xqiVj - Kevin C. Tofel

BTW, this post, while not being prefectly relevant, might peak your interest for discussion. I think that subscription-based products are going to dominate in the future. I believe that the app store is providing Apple the experience necessary to take my ideas in my blog post further. http://onlyjames.com/future-... - James Mowery from twhirl

definitely the apps - now it's much more like a mini computer - Nathan Manley from Alert Thingy

Definitely the new firmware. - Angel Smith

OS my biggest issue is as multi-whatever as this phone is, why doesn't it multi task? when are the apps going to run in the background??? all these apps are useless if it can only run one at a time. - Mona Nomura

The App platform is the biggest thing, though the hardware is nice for the fixes it provides: http://fury.com/article... - Kevin Fox

Definitely the firmware. Mona, all the apps are not useless due to lack of running in the background, though they're not nearly as useful as they could be if they did. - Robert Seidman

@mona n ...until apple does something to improve battery life considerably, I can't see multitasking & background running apps that soon. - Nick

Maybe it's in my head but notifications seem slower when my browser is up.... which is a problem for me since my entire life is based on e-mail and SMS. I also wished Apple at least integrated Java (solely for Gmail) - Mona Nomura

Definitely the new OS. It's great to have the App Store and finally third-party support on the iPhone OS. Not everyone needs the new hardware as the 3G coverage isn't available in all areas. - Kevin Skocik

The hardware new features will have a lot less reach (e.g. limiited 3g ares) than the software which will affect both original and 3G models. Furthermore, I wouldn't be surprised to see the AppStore bring in more coin than the hardware. - William Reveal from twhirl

@Nick: agreed. Though I'm getting the external battery shipped to me from Japan. It plugs in the butt and it's not as huge... See, only a 50 hour time difference between 2g & 3g iPhones means nothing to me, since all the new apps will probably drain the battery 10 times faster. Well the good news is, the battery is replaceable... since my current battery is crapping out. - Mona Nomura

The new OS, definitely. The best hardware in the world isn't worth much if nothing good is running on it. - Akiva Moskovitz

The OS - no doubt - though it's my first iPhone, so the hardware is pretty cool as well. Without the AppStore, the new phone wouldn't be half as interesting. - Frederic

Software by far. 3G is limited in coverage, GPS is limited in capabilities, extended battery will be wasted on 3G and GPS. - pb30

I only wonder how long it will be before we are buying full fledged Mac OS X desktop applications through iTunes. - James Mowery from twhirl

The hardware is only particularly useful as an enabler of the new OS. The inverse isn't true. - Nicholas Molnar

definitely the OS. I'm skipping the hardware update (at least for now) but can't wait to use the new apps. - matt hollingsworth

hardware - the 3G download speed trumps all the apps - Jeremy Toeman

OS for sure!! Not everyone needs 3G. - Ryan Cates

2.0 but the 3G is great too - Grant

I'm kinda "anti-iPhone" but, I would think since most people will be using the 3G and GPS features alot, the hardware would be important. Not to say the apps aren't important but, I'm sure people can live without them as some point. Me, I'd personally say battery life was important. - Outsanity & Kate + Hate

It's ALL about the software. Without software, all you have is a nice little heater for your cup of tea, or a shiny mirror. ;-) - Josh Bancroft

Hardware. 480k for me vs 36k GPRS on the old one. + the queues speak for themselves. I had apps on my old cracked iPhone - Duncan Riley

If it was truly all about the software, then you wouldn't have seen the amazingly long lines that we saw today. They were FULL of people running 2.0 software on their current iPhones. They weren't satisfied with that though. - Andru Edwards

The OS. Because I don't plan on getting an iPhone, but I will be getting an iPod Touch come Christmas. :) Also, the OS changed the rules of the game for mobile development, as far as I'm concerned. A development environment that allows thousands of desktop app developers to directly apply their existing skills to a new platform? Hell yeah. - James (@willia4)

iPhone 2.0 is much better than 3G or GPS, mainly because I don't have 3G in my area. - Shawn Molnar

The new iPhone OS is much more important. The 3G and GPS are nice, but the improvements to the OS are so much better. I'm just going to stick with my first-gen iPhone for the time being... - Brandon Wood