Strong demand for Motorola Milestone in U.K.

If the Motorola Droid is the hottest smartphone in the United States at the moment, and its multitouch-equipped GSM counterpart, the Milestone, may turn out to be even hotter abroad. According to wireless retailer Expansys.com, the exclusive U.K. provider of the handset, its entire stock of the Motorola handset was depleted in less than three hours.

According to a statement posted on Pocket-lint, the Milestone is the fastest selling phone in the Web site's 11-year history, even more successful than the iPhone.

The actual number of handsets sold by Expansys remains unknown, but, according to the retailer, it received more than 1,000 preorders. New Milestone stock is expected soon with Christmas delivery still possible.

Since the handset is being sold with a contract, the nonsubsidized price comes to $763 (449 pounds). Although, J&R Music and Computer World is currently selling the handset through it's Amazon.com store in the United States for $790. While the device can be used for both AT&T and T-Mobile for voice calls, it does not support North American 3G frequencies. Yet, its data connections will work over an EDGE network and with Wi-Fi.