Marking the 1-month milestone since the iPhone was launched, Apple chief Steve Jobs provided some stats on the software downloads for the new device.

Notably, iPhone users have downloaded more than 60 million programs for the iPhone and iPod Touch, or roughly 2 million per day. This has generated revenue of about $30 million, at which rate software downloads will be worth $360 million annually.

Most interesting in Jobs' review of progress to date is his comment that it is software, not hardware, that will differentiate wireless devices going forward.

“Phone differentiation used to be about radios and antennas and things like that,” according to comments reported in the Wall Street Journal. “We think, going forward, the phone of the future will be differentiated by software.”

Check out Fortune.com's coverage at: http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/08/11/steve-jobs-60-million-iphone-apps-downloaded/

We've heard this view expressed before. But, taken to the extreme, it suggests that the physical elements of mobile devices (size, layout, button size, speaker quality, etc.) will become much less important as differentiators. But, in our Survey of User Needs, majorities of respondents identified things like "controls easy to manipulate" and "durability and toughness" as important device features.

What's your view? Will software displace the physical elements of mobile devices as the key product differentiator?