With the 3G iPhone coming soon in a store near you, Apple doesn’t have to worry anymore about its target sales. Back in 2007, when Steve Jobs announced at MacWorld that the company aims to sell 10 million units until the end of 2008, many analysts were doubtful.

However, since the official launch, almost one year ago, Apple has sold 5 million units and its gadget was available only in the US and few European countries. Also it has had quite a stiff price for a phone.  But now Apple is changing its strategy: the new 3G iPhone will cost only $199 (probably 199 euros in Europe), which is a very good price for a phone that has so many features.

Earlier this month, the research company Gartner revealed that Apple has already an established position in the smartphone market.

According to the data released by Gartner, Apple is the second biggest smartphone maker in US and it has achieved number three worldwide.

Of course, Nokia is still the market leader with an impressive 45.2 percent of the market in the worldwide market and there is RIM, which gained the second spot with a share of 13.4 percent.

What is quite impressive is that Apple has built its share by starting practically from zero, as the company didn’t have any cell phone prior its iPhone.

So, knowing all these details, it seems like during the next year Apple is ready to threaten Nokia’s leadership.

The analysts have already started to estimate how many iPhones Apple will sell during the next year and, according to Fortune, the estimations are ranging from 10 million to 55 million units. Of course, their forecasts could be wrong, but it will be interesting to see Apple compete against Nokia during the next year.

On the other hand, Nokia hinted that it will release its first touch screen phone. In April, Tom Libretto, vice president of Forum Nokia, confirmed that the Finnish company is working on a new phone, a touch screen, called for the moment Tube.

According to Libretto, the Nokia Tube will include also a feature that will allow its users to upload to the web, which means that the new device will integrate Wi-Fi or HSDPA connectivity. Unfortunately, Libretto did not indicate any release timeframe for this new phone.

However, it seems like 2008 will be an interesting year for the smartphone market.