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Apple's iPhone will finally go on sale in the UK today, ending months of anticipation by consumers following the US launch of the sought after mobile.

More than 1,300 Apple, O2 and Carphone Warehouse stores across the country will be offering the iPhone for sale from 18:02 BST, while those who want to avoid queuing to get their hands on the next generation product will be able to buy the handset online.

The much-hyped phone also went on sale in Germany today, with hundreds of people braving wind and rain in the city of Cologne to be among the first in Europe to buy the device.

Eager German consumers were able to purchase the iPhone at midnight from the city's Deutsche Telekom shop, part of the T-Mobile group chosen by Apple to be the exclusive carrier of its flagship phone in the country.

Meanwhile reports yesterday revealed that British consumers had already begun queuing outside the Apple store on London's Regent Street in order to buy the iPhone when it goes on sale this evening.

The iPhone, which serves as a mobile phone, widescreen iPod music player and internet device, proved equally popular when it was launched in the US in June. Some consumers of the other side of the Atlantic queued for days to buy what has been dubbed as the ultimate mobile handset.

To date Apple has sold over a million iPhones, which will retail in the UK for £269.

Mobile operator O2, selected by Apple as the sole network in the UK to carry the iPhone, announced earlier this week that it had hired additional staff ahead of the handset going on sale.

"O2 stores are fully geared up for what will be the year’s biggest product launch," stressed O2 sales director Mark Stansfeld.

"We’ve hired and trained hundreds of new iPhone specialists who will be in all 450 O2 stores giving live demos and showing customers how to get the most out of their iPhone."

But while O2 is the only mobile network authorised to provide services for the iPhone, reports claim that around 250,000 US owners of the handset have unlocked the device so that it can be used on other networks.