Well it seems that the iPhone is causing quite a stir in Europe with most of the major phone companies worried about being able to compete with the iPhone.

Darren Waters of BBC News reports:

Apple’s iPhone may have only been on release for a few months but it is making waves in the global mobile industry. So how are competitors responding?

More than 285 million handsets from a plethora of manufacturers were sold globally between July and September this year, according to recent figures from research firm Strategy Analytics.

The figures are up 12% on last year, and each and every week new handsets and services are launched into a burgeoning market ever hungry for more features.

Apple is the new kid on the block and has managed to sell 1.4m iPhones in the first 90 days on sale. The device goes on sale in the UK and Germany on Friday.

It is an impressive number but a fraction of the global market. Yet the market leaders, Nokia, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, HTC and Motorola, are keeping their eyes firmly on Apple’s progress.

“There’s no sign of panic from competitors,” said Jonathan Arber, a principal analyst at Ovum.

“There’s no scrambling. But anyone who is trying to take market share concerns them.”

It’s going to be interesting to see what the phone companies come up with, it seems that Apple have set in motion the things to come. Some pictures have been released of phones which could have the potential to rival the iPhone these are:

The Nokia N95

And the LG LGKS20

I would love to get my hands on a iPhone and fall in love with it the way Chris Pirillo has so it’s going to be interesting to see what these phones are going to do to the iPhones sales and what Apple can do to fend off the competition.

[tags]iPhone, UK, Phones, British, Europe, Sales[/tags]