Apple's iPhone received a warm welcome in the U.K. when it officially launched on November 9. Even though it turns out that O2 didn't sell the "hundreds of thousands" of units that CEO Peter Erskine was originally reported to have claimed, the company still managed to sell "tens of thousands."

CNNMoney initially reported that the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.K. had sold well over 100,000 units during the first weekend of availability, but later changed that figure to "tens of thousands."

The Sunday Mirror narrowed down that vague figure by claiming as many as 70,000 of Apple's combination iPod and smart phone made it into customer's hands.

An O2 spokesperson said "We've hundreds of thousands of devices to sell and we are extremely happy with how things have gone." The quote may have led to some of the confusion over how many iPhones O2 actually sold.

Mr. Erksine declined to pin down an exact sales figure, but did confirm that a large number of iPhone customers were new to the O2 network. "Around two-thirds of iPhone customers are new to O2 and footfall (in our stores) has been better than expected," he said.

Apple's Regent Street store in London began forming a line for the iPhone more than 24 hours in advance, and the line was over 300 people long when sales began on Friday evening. Apple has not yet released first weekend sales figures.

The iPhone went on sale in the U.K. on Friday, November 6 at 6:02PM. It is available at Apple's retail locations, O2 stores, and Carphone Warehouse locations.

[This article has been updated with additional information about U.K. iPhone sales figures.]