With less than 90 minutes before the iPhone goes on sale in the UK, many eyes have turned to look at what’s going outside Apple and O2 stores amid scepticism whether the same queues will form as marked the US launch.  In fact, there seem to be more observers than there are potential shoppers; unlike the crowds that our own Vincent Nguyen braved to secure an American iPhone back in June, would-be-owners seem to be wary of the handset.  TUAW’s Nik Fletcher is, unsurprisingly, waiting outside the London Apple Store, but as of this afternoon only around two dozen people were in the queue, most of them recent additions (seven of those had been waiting overnight).

So why the relatively low turnout?  Confidence in supply, perhaps, with consumers reassured by Apple’s ability to cater to demand following the US launch and feeling little need to pre-empt a weekend shopping trip.  But more worrying to the accountants is the suggestion that the phone is just too expensive and, compared to the kind of handset most UK users take for granted, under-specified.

The arguments have been well-trodden recently by most UK newspapers and media outlets, and there’s a real possibility that all but the most dedicated Apple-lovers and fashionistas will give this first generation iPhone a miss.  But queues of several hundred outside a T-Mobile store in Germany after they were permitted to buy the phone at midnight, rather than wait for the launch-proper, should give some glimmer of hope.

Of course, early-adopters can only take sales figures so far; the important point will be a week or so after the trumpeted launch, when the Mac-faithful have bought their toys and it’s left to the general public to decide whether £269 is reasonable for a cellphone.