Apple’s success with the iPhone and the iPhone 3G is certainly incontestable. Since the Cupertino-based company released its mobile platform through the iPhone and the iPod Touch, Apple managed to gain much more interest from users than virtually any other phone manufacturer.

Apple decided not to participate at the this week’s GSMA Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, but it was quite amazing to see many other companies speaking about the iPhone’s features when presenting their own new products.

From Windows Mobile 6.5, to Nokia’s Ovi online store and Microsoft’s SkyMarket, none of these giants in the mobile device arena could hold themselves not comparing their software and services with the ones that Apple has already released.

As Nokia provided details about its forthcoming Ovi application store, the company representative was somewhat forced to speak about Apple’s App Store and how Ovi will do better. As well as Nokia, Microsoft linked some of their SkyMarket features with the ones that the AppStore had been offering since last summer.

And then again, there was the release of Windows Mobile 6.5, which also made a spokesman at the Redmond giant compare some of the operating system’s functionality features with other ones that had been present on the iPhone since its initial release.

However, it seems that Apple doesn't intend to sleep on its laurels, as the company scheduled the release of a revised version of the iPhone this summer. What is more, Apple also stated that it would be there right next to its competitors at the next edition of the Consumer Electronics Show, meaning that the company is far more confident about its future in the smartphone market.