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Matthew Key, chief executive of the UK's exclusive official network carrier for Apple's smartphone, told the Financial Times earlier this month that he expected "a couple of hundred thousand" to be sold in the first two months after it went on sale three weeks ago. Apple reportedly gave analysts the same figure.

But according to channel sources, just 26,500 have been activated. Of course sales may be higher than that - since figures for activations do not include phones bought as Christmas presents or those unlocked for use on other networks.

Industry watchers claim the iPhone's price tag - £269 plus a minimum £35 per month contract - may have put off British buyers.

"I suspect a number of users went into

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O2 stores knowing the device was £269, and thought there was an opportunity to do a deal," says Geoff Blaber, director of devices at research firm, CCS Insight. "I think that's been a big shock."

Apple sold a million iPhones in the US in just 74 days, though many stores were without stock for up to three weeks. However well it is selling in the UK, it was never going to approach that figure, or anything close to it, not least because there are around five times as many people living in the US. But Blaber thinks other factors are significant.

"In the UK, it's up against a much more severe level of competition," he said. "If you compare the £269 iPhone to a number of products from the likes of Nokia and Sony Ericsson, all of which are directly cross-sold by the operators, there's a significant level of competition."

The iPhone's consumer focus might also be hampering adoption, with a quarter of all smartphone sales going to business users, according to CCS.

"The email configuration is very good from a consumer perspective, but integration with infrastructure such as Exchange and Domino is not really there," Blaber said.

Apple declined to comment on iPhone sales, saying that no official figures have yet been released and that any reports of sales were "purely speculation".