"The end of the exclusive relationship between O2 and Apple caused a bit of a stir with the networks, not only that but sales of the Apple iPhone have gone through the roof. The deal-end brought more players to the iPhone market with Orangealready churning out offers, not to mention Vodafone waiting in the wings. Adding more players has certainly had an effect in hiking Apple’s market share from 21 percent to 32 percent in just 3 months."

"The expansion of iPhone distribution has clearly benefited Apple, helping it to more than double sales in three months," said Pierre Ferragu, analyst at Bernstein, adding that Apple's gain happened at the expense of Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry.

600,000 handsets were sold during Q3 2009 in France alone, making the country the biggest market for the iPhone in Europe. Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston expects to see a similar pattern in the UK.

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