Today, Apple CEO Tim Cook will walk onstage at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts at De Anza College in Cupertino, California, and make the most important speech of his life.

It will feel as if Apple rules the world during the 90 minutes or so that Cook's presentation lasts. But in fact, the world Apple lives in is moving faster than it ever has before. Apple now has rivals that are more nimble than its old enemy, Microsoft.

Even simple questions about the speech will hang in the air, unanswered. For instance, do consumers really want a smartwatch in addition to the phone in their pockets?

So while Tuesday's speech is important, it is not clear whether history will regard it as Cook's moment of triumph or a mere cul de sac, like the Apple Newton or MobileMe.

Cook has chosen an almost religious location to speak: The late Apple founder Steve Jobs launched the original Mac there, 30 years ago.

The smartwatch — or "iWatch" as everyone is calling it — will be the first truly new product of the post-Jobs era. It will probably be the first new product that Jobs never touched. Alongside it will be the iPhone 6, a powerful new iteration of the iPhone, in two large-screen sizes (4.7 inches and 5.5 inches). There will also be a new operating system for the iPhone and iPad (iOS 8) as well as a new operating system for the Mac (OS X Yosemite).

And while the event will be massive for Apple — and iPhone 6 will doubtlessly be a huge seller — Cook will make his speech in a world that is already very different from the one he inherited when he became CEO in 2011.

To a surprising extent, Apple is playing catch-up:

Tim Cook and Apple svp of internet software and services Eddie Cue. Scott Olson / Getty Much of this is irrelevant to Apple, of course. Tim Cook is not interested in serving those stretches of the market that require zero or negative margins, or those that generate users who have low value to advertisers and app developers.

Cook can be confident that Apple remains the strongest brand in the rich, Western countries where its phones are bestsellers.

And Apple's strategy has been historically successful: Let other companies launch wacky, underpowered new gadgets and then wade in later with the best-possible version in the category.

Fools bet against Apple, in other words.

Cook will also draw some confidence from the collapsing sales and market share of its current strongest smartphone rival, Samsung. Samsung is seeing its market get stolen from underneath it, as cheap Asian Android makers tempt people away from its expensive flagship Android phones.

The challenge that Cook's iPhone 6 must meet is whether it, too, can withstand competition from companies making Android phones that have largely the same functionality as iPhone. (One example: iPhone 6 will get a split-screen function allowing apps to display several streams at once. That feature has been available on Samsung's Android phones for months.)

The subtext of Cook's speech, therefore, is this: "Sure, you could buy a decent smartphone for less than $400. But we have a very good smartphone for $700 or more. We're betting that this will not change, that there will always be customers who want to pay hundreds of dollars more for a product that, elsewhere in the market, is regarded as a commodity."

The received wisdom is that Apple products and the iOS system are essentially their own category; they don't really compete with Android. Android makers compete against themselves, on price. That logic has held true for years.

Cook will be hoping it continues.



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