With more than 285 million handsets from various mobile phone manufacturers sold globally between July and September of this year, the Apple Iphone has other manufactures running scared. The Apple Iphone has managed a marketing coup by having sold 1.4 million units in the first 90 days of launch. Even though just a fraction of the market, it is a coup that has never been seen before.

Other manufacturers are now emulating the Iphone. It has become apparent that the iPhone’s touch screen experience was the application that most competitors would be seeking to emulate. The question remains is how much value does the Apple Itunes add to the value of the overall package. The Apple iTunes music store and its integration with the iPhone and might just give the IPhone a further boost over its competitors. Maybe it just has considering the latest uttering from Vodafone:

Al Russell, Vodafone’s head of internet and content services, said the iPhone was a “significant development in our marketplace”.

But he said Vodafone’s MusicStation, which is a subscription-based music service, offered functionality that the iPhone could not match.

“This generation does not want an archive of music. We offer unlimited music on a rental model - no-one has done this in the marketplace, and certainly not the iPhone.

Nokia comes back with all guns blazing with their comments that the model of the iPod and iTunes had been very successful but they had relatively little penetration outside the US and UK. They might just have to eat their words!

In France this week, it was reveled by Orange that they sold 30,000 iPhones in the first five days of launch. Adding that 48% of people buying the phones were new customers for the network. So the Iphone has been great for mobile phone services. What is remarkable thought is that 20% of customers who have bought iPhones from it in France have opted for unlocked ones. Looking at the costs of that makes one wonder. Orange sold the popular Apple product for 399 euros with a two-year contract, or 749 euros without one. Even with the price tag almost twice the price, 20% of people still forked out the money for it.

So what makes the Iphone so unique? From all the Internet boards and websites it is apparent that Apple has been listening to their user bases and provided what people wanted - finger-touch technology.