To provide a view into Apple's current state of affairs prior to the September event, Chitika Insights examined OS X and iOS version distributions, along with how iPhone Web usage breaks down by screen size.

As seen above, iPhone 5, 5C, and 5S users generate over 65.4% of total iPhone Web traffic in the U.S. and Canada, with users of older iPhone models make up the remaining 34.6%. This can be seen through two separate lenses in terms of what this may mean for future iPhone models.

Most intuitively, a sizable percentage of North American iPhone owners still use a device that debuted in 2011 or earlier, making it likely that many of those users will choose to upgrade in the near future.

The opportunity to drive upgrades from current iPhone 5, 5C, and 5S users is likely more muted, but sizable nonetheless. Any new iPhone screen size(s) may act as extra motivation to upgrade for some consumers, and Apple has historically seen a lot of success in driving adoption of its new smartphones very shortly after they come on the market.

Chitika Further noted that "a full 90% of North American iOS Web traffic comes from devices running iOS 7, largely thanks to Apple's update strategy which isn't subject to carrier controls and directly prompts eligible users to upgrade. It only took a week following the release of iOS 7 for the majority of iOS traffic to be coming from that version, so the release of iOS 8 can reasonably be expected to elicit a similar reception."

Apple's precise announcements on September 9 will crystalize any shift in the company's mobile and OS strategy, and as the largest company in the space, likely prove to have a tremendous impact on the entire industry and its direction.

It's Showtime Tomorrow

While Patently Apple isn't in the crystal ball business, we certainly follow Apple's trends through their patent applications. Tomorrow many categories of patents are likely to be fulfilled. One of them could be for the long awaited iWallet and its elaborate backend system to make it all happen seamlessly on the upcoming iPhone 6.

We've been adamantly covering NFC and the iWallet since 2009 and have the largest collection of patent applications in our Archives to prove it.

On the lighter side of things, MasterCard decided to begin following Patently Apple Twitter tonight. Is that mere coincidence or an omen? We'll know tomorrow.

In the bigger picture, when the iPhone debuted, I had only covered about ten iPhone related patents in reports up until that point in time. However, Apple's late CEO Steve Jobs made it public when launching the iPhone in 2007 that the device was actually covered by over 200 patents. Many of Apple's patent applications covered aspects of the iPhone that were undetectable as iPhone-centric IP when they were first filed and published.

These patent applications covered such things as special materials, new parts of various importance and so forth that were initially as generic as you can possibly imagine. So when a new product category comes to life, it truly represents dozens if not hundreds of patent applications. It's a massive pool of intellectual property designed to protect a new device, application or service with each holding special importance in respect to their overall legal claims.

Tomorrow Apple is likely to shed light on products such as the iWallet, their use of Sapphire and the iWatch – beyond the obvious iPhone 6 and iOS 8.

Tomorrow could be a very big day for Apple and their many patents that we've covered over the years. Here's to hoping that Apple and the Crazy Ones of Cupertino will introduce the amazing with the flair that only Jony Ive's industrial dream machine could deliver. I think it's the day that we've all been waiting for since the fall of 2011. High energy innovation will roll out tomorrow and we're only hours away.

Is there a surprise that you're hoping for tomorrow? Send in your comments below.

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