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It added 483,000 customers in the quarter including 276,000 on a contract, the highest number ever. Matthew Key, the chairman and chief executive of Telefonica O2 Europe, would not reveal how many of those were iPhone customers, though he did say that ales were broadly in line with their target to sell a "couple of hundred thousand by the middle of January".

He added that the Phone had delivered as hoped, with users driving up data revenues. The iPhone has the highest satisfaction rating and the lowest return rate of any phone that O2 offers and iPhone users generate roughly 30% more revenue than other O2 customers.

"The pleasing thing we've seen on

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the iPhone and starting to see across the business is that mobile data is finally coming of age," he said.

O2's news followed an optimistic outlook for total iPhone sales by Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, and helped to sustain a revival in Apple's stock price. From a six-month low of $115.87 at the end of last week, the share price closed yesterday at $129.91, up 12%.

According to research firm Gartner, Apple is now among the top 10 mobile phone makers, with 0.6% of the global market despite a presence limited to two models in four countries. And it can hope to increase it share should next week's press event, as expected, see the addition of business friendly email support. However the event may not see the introduction of the iPhone SDK. Rumours and some roadmap-related speculation point to a possible beta release followed by a final version at Apple's developers' conference in the summer.