Well, I got this little thingy from the Apple store in Atlanta, when I was over for a conference- and it was a very unemotional planned- out thing... liking my iphone and wanting to use it whenever i could (comes natural, doesn't it?) I detested the white pest that is bundled with it from the first time they fell out of my ears- there HAD to be a way to have both: the mic and the button + the sound I was used from my 3dGen Ipod (may he rest in peace, poor fellow-he had ca fulfilled life, though!)...
So Shure are offering this neat little adaptor... and what I actually did was plugging in some nice, not so pricy but decently sounding and fitting headphones from scullcandy and strapping additional cable with velcro straps to the shure cable- be my guest to handle this as You want, since I was s(h)ure that this was the only application for these new things totally happy with that!
My experience so far: the things are working as advertised, You have a VERY good microphone inside that adapter and the music rocks- but best of all You have now near to noise cancelling music sound- and if the headphone part breaks, You will not mourn very long and simply attach new phones- so You actually save money! One downside, the button is big an easy to be touched for, the pinching with apple's remote button nevertheless worked much much better, so for handling You'd have to withdraw some points.
Generally I consider these gimmicks my perfect mix from flexibility and quality paired with the freedom of choice what You actually put into Your ears....
I recommend these as useful!