Mitigating iPhone Headphones Design Flaw/Poor Usage
My solution was to get a Shure mic/clicker (about $30-40) and combine it with a pair of sony headphones from amazon.  The shure is a really good mic has lasted and lasted and lasted, and the headphones while only $10 sound much better than the apple ones, and when they crap out (about 1.5-2 yrs) are a trivial expense.  It's a little more unwieldy than the all in one unit but it's much more durable and cheaper in the long run.  I originally did this to get around the nonstandard headphone jack on the 1st gen iphone, but now I stay with it because it's so reliable