The iPhone frenzy has just begun in Europe and it seems like Apple’s ultimate gadget is off for a good start. Late Friday, Deutsche Telekom officials confirmed that more than 10,000 units were sold by mid- afternoon on the first day on sale.

Philipp Humm, head of T-Mobile wireless division, was quoted by news agencies, saying "We're delighted."

Also, Deutsche Telekom said there had been no disorder at its shops and it had enough phones in stock.

In Britain, where an exclusive 18-month calling plan ties the buyer to O2, the gadget, which has an iPod included, went on sale at 1800 GMT at 1,300 Carphone Warehouse, O2 and Apple outlets.

In London, fans had started queuing at stores overnight and numbers swelled to several hundred for the launch Friday evening. Staff cheered as the doors opened and excited customers made their way into the store. There were scenes of "mayhem" when the doors opened, reported the BBC.

The iPhone will go on sale in France on November 29, which is twenty days later then in Germany and UK.

Apple has a problem in France, as under French law, all mobile phones have to be offered unlocked, so that customers can use them on any network they wish. This means that instead buying an iPhone from his country, the British and Germans residents coud travel to France to buy an unlocked iPhone. Reportedly Apple is working with Orange to prevent this situation.

Still it remains to be seen if the iPhone will have the same success in Europe, as it did in US.

After iPhone went on sale in US on June 29 some analysts claimed that close to 500.000 units were sold during the first week end.

In its financial report for the second financial quarter AT&T confirmed that in two days since iPhone launch 146,000 iPhones were activated.

In a report released last month Strategy Analytics said that, based on the data from its ProductTRAX program nearly 1.1 million units were delivered to US consumers through the combined AT&T and Apple outlets during Q3, totaling 1.325 million units since the iPhone launch.

Strategy Analytics also revealed some data about the iPhone users. According to their report, the largest percentage of iPhone buyers is between 20-30 years old, but the Ultimate phone is an attractive gadget for older people. 25 percent of iPhone buyers were between 50-60 years, said Strategy Analytics.