Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc.'s iPhone goes on sale today in Germany and the U.K., where the company aims to repeat the success of its U.S. debut that drew crowds in June.

Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's largest phone company, started selling the combined phone and iPod music player in more than 700 shops in Germany. The German company's T-Mobile unit has already sold more than 10,000 iPhone contracts today, it said in a statement. Carphone Warehouse Group Plc and Telefonica SA's O2 division are carrying the device in 1,300 U.K. stores.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs is betting European consumers will be as enthusiastic as those in the U.S., where the Cupertino, California-based company sold 1.4 million iPhones as of Sept. 29. Outside Apple's flagship store on London's Regent Street, there was a queue of about 20 people by 8:30 a.m., almost 10 hours before the devices will be sold.

``I'm looking forward to being the first in the U.K. to buy one,'' said Graham Gilbert, 22, a student from Manchester, who left home at 4:30 a.m. yesterday to be first in the queue. ``From what I've seen it seems pretty amazing, it gives you everything you need in one device.''

Carphone Warehouse and O2 will simultaneously start selling the iPhone at 6:02 p.m. in the U.K., with the two minutes past the hour being a reference to O2's name. The 8-gigabyte handset will cost 269 pounds ($568) including tax. Monthly contracts start at 35 pounds. Carphone Warehouse, Europe's largest handset retailer, forecast last week it may sell 10,000 iPhones today.

`Top Seller'

``This is going to be the top selling product this Christmas,'' Carphone Warehouse Chief Executive Officer Charles Dunstone said in an interview. ``Apple has this amazing way of normalizing technology for people. They are in the mobile-phone marketplace to stay.''

Apple's stock has jumped 44 percent since the handset's June debut. Jobs, 52, is counting on the iPhone to become Apple's third major business along with Macintosh computers and iPod media players, which each bring in about $10 billion in annual sales. Apple aims to sell 10 million iPhones worldwide in 2008. In the U.S., Apple picked AT&T Inc. as the exclusive operator.

In Germany, Bonn-based Deutsche Telekom opened a shop in Cologne at midnight to let customers get their hands on the 399- euro ($587) phone. Hundreds of people showed up in the rain, said Marion Kessing, a T-Mobile spokeswoman.

``Ten thousand is very successful for the first day,'' Kessing said via phone. The figure includes devices sold in stores and via T-Mobile's Web shop.

The handset, which features a touch-screen display, works only with a two-year contract with T-Mobile. Monthly plans start at 49 euros and buyers must pay a 25-euro startup fee.

`Sick of Little Pens'

In Frankfurt, Carsten Schrauff, an administrator for the city's theater department, braved the wind and drizzle to go to Deutsche Telekom's store in the Zeil shopping quarter. He said he'll end his subscription with O2, the smallest of Germany's four mobile network operators.

``I'm sick of writing emails with little pens,'' the 32- year-old said. ``I'm also sick of having to get stupid updates for my mobile-phone every four months or so. It was so regular it's like going to the dentist.''

T-Mobile is the largest wireless company in Germany with more than 34 million customers. It also sells services across 10 other European countries including the U.K., and in the U.S. The German unit's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for some items, dropped 13 percent to 777 million euros in the third quarter as competition intensified with discounters such as Royal KPN NV's E-Plus division.

Christmas Holidays

``It is an attractive product that will help us generate additional revenue,'' Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann said yesterday in Bonn. ``I'm happy that we're able to carry the product for the Christmas season. I'm optimistic.''

Still, the frenzy in the U.S., where buyers queued up outside Apple's store on Fifth Avenue in New York three days before the iPhone went on sale, wasn't repeated in Germany.

``I'm not surprised that not many people turned up,'' said Uwe Berger, a mechanical engineer, who was in a line of 10 people outside Deutsche Telekom's shop in Frankfurt. ``People are pretty busy with work in Frankfurt.''

Deutsche Telekom shares rose 0.5 percent to 14.21 euros in Frankfurt. Carphone Warehouse fell 0.5 percent to 355.25 pence in London. Telefonica fell 2.6 percent to 22.39 euros in Madrid. Apple dropped 2.1 percent to $171.84 at 5:47 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

In France, Apple picked France Telecom SA's Orange unit to sell the iPhone starting Nov. 29.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kenneth Wong in Berlin at kwong11@bloomberg.net; Loveday Morris in London at lmorris7@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 9, 2007 11:51 EST