Almost half a million Vodafone customers are accessing the latest chart toppers and classic hits via their handsets.

The mobile phone company has announced its number of subscribers to the service recently passed the 450,000 mark – all of whom can choose from a selection of more than two million songs.

Last year Vodafone signed deals with four of the music industry’s leading record labels, allowing tracks by their artists to be heard at any time by its customers.

Signing up to the service with Vodafone is an option for all mobile phone users with the network – with a typical tariff of about €5 (£4.30) a month for ten songs or larger bundles both available.

Lee Epting, director of content at Vodafone internet services, said: "We expect to see continued growth in our music service subscriptions driven by the increase in smartphone use, with their worry-free data tariffs and great value add-ons such as music bundles."

The figures revealed by Vodafone mean it is now in possession of the largest customer base of any music subscription provider in Europe, with 100,000 joining in December alone.

Mr Epting added that the statistics prove Vodafone "is starting to prove its significance of its place in the music industry".

One mobile which could be ideal for playing music from the service is Apple’s iPhone, which earlier this month went on sale via Vodafone for the first time.

Vodafone joined O2, Orange and Tesco as one of only four official stockists of the popular handset.

Vodafone achieved sales of more than 50,000 iPhone’s on its first day of selling Apple’s revolutionary mobile handset.

The figure comfortably beats the 30,000 shifted by Orange on its first day as an official stockist last year, while also outperforming Google’s Nexus One which is believed to have tempted around 20,000 purchasers in its opening week.

Nexus One, it was announced last week, will be sold across Europe later this year, where its sim-free ability could prove a hit.

Last Thursday (January 14th) Vodafone became the fourth mobile retailer to sell the iPhone, following in the footsteps of O2, Tesco and Orange.

Such demand has caused confusion amongst some analysts, with Richard Wray of the Guardian pointing out that "the company’s pricing is scarcely different from the tariffs offered by O2 and Orange".

Vodafone has offered some incentives to customers who choose it as an iPhone supplier, however, with one example being its allowance of one gigabyte of 3G data.

It was suggested by the Telegraph last week that the biggest obstacle to overcome in 2010 would be providing a reliable and fast connection in as much of the UK as possible – something it believes Vodafone may struggle with as its signal covers just 81 per cent of the country.

"The reliability of mobile data networks will be a major issue this year, not least because Google has now unleashed the Nexus One, the first significant challenger to the iPhone in terms of power and functionality", said the newspaper.

Mobile phone network Vodafone is stocking the iPhone from today (January 14th).

Vodafone joins O2, Orange and Tesco as official suppliers of the state-of-the-art handset which has led the smartphone revolution of the UK mobile industry.

The iPhone will be available both online and in Vodafone stores – and it could be of particular interest to existing Vodafone customers who may have been waiting for the chance to upgrade to the Apple device.

Although the pricing structure selected by Vodafone is similar to those set by O2, Orange and Tesco, it has offered some incentives to customers with no affiliation to a network.

It will, for example, allow users to consume one gigabyte of 3G data.

However, there are drawbacks for the firm, says the Telegraph, noting that Vodafone covers just 81 per cent of the UK, compared with Orange’s 93 per cent.

O2 arguably sits between the two, covering a reasonable 84 per cent of the country, but suffering considerable problems with its network at the back end of 2009.

It has, though, spent £30 million recently on significant upgrades which it hopes will re-establish its position as Britain’s leading smartphone retailer.

The newspaper suggests: “The reliability of mobile data networks will be a major issue this year, not least because Google has now unleashed the Nexus One, the first significant challenger to the iPhone in terms of power and functionality.”

Vodafone announced in December that it was to stock the iPhone, saying that it would be available for as little as £30 a month on a 24-month contract.

UPDATE: You can find out how the Vodafone iPhone deals compare against Orange and O2 by looking on Recombu.