The disruptive power of the Apple iPhone is underlined by the panic that the launch has triggered among Britain’s mobile operators.

Their fight for the rights to sell the iPhone in the UK has been one of the most fiercely contested battles since the 3G auction in 2000.

Meanwhile, operators and handset manufacturers have scrabbled to produce a flurry of “iPhone killers” to try to stop their hard-won customers deserting to the Californian consumer electronics group.

It is not that the combination of services on offer in the iPhone is particularly revolutionary: music, calling and internet access on one device has long been offered by many mobile companies.

Rather, analysts say, it is Apple’s packaging and presentation that should mark out the iPhone as the product that finally encouraged users to see their mobile as a mini PC, rather than simply a calling and texting device.

Ben Wood, of CCS Insight, the telecoms research group, said: “The message from Steve Jobs [Apple chief executive] that the product is three devices in one bears remarkable similarities to presentations from the leading mobile phone manufacturers – it is just that they have failed to deliver the message in such a compelling manner.”

The phone, he said, should act as a “wake-up call” to the major mobile phone manufacturers in setting a standard for design and usability.

Mr Wood said the iPhone also sets a new benchmark for consumers on what a high-end mobile should offer.

Charles Dunstone, co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, said that Apple’s ability to make devices intuitive and easy to use should mark the phone as a breakthrough device, just as RIM’s BlackBerry transformed e-mailing on the move.

Mobile operators, such as Vodafone, have sought to pull off this trick ever since paying £22.5 billion for 3G licences. Consumers have not been swayed and most mobile revenue still comes from calls and texts. Despite the hype, the long hoped-for 3G Christmas has failed to occur.

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