Google has blindsided bitter rival Apple by hiring a senior employee from the iPhone maker, despite the firms apparently having an agreement not to poach each other's staff.

Simon Prakash, senior director of product integrity at Apple, was responsible for ensuring that products such as the iPhone and iPad were of the highest quality before they hit the market. No cushy job that, as he worked to the notoriously high standards imposed by former chief, Steve Jobs.

Although his job role at Google is unclear, Prakash is set to start work on a secret project, according to Venturebeat. He could find himself reporting directly to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who takes charge of a variety of secret research and development projects at Google.

This isn't the first time that Google has tried to tempt an employee from Apple. Former Apple chief executive Steve Jobs alledgedly emailed Google to ask the firm to stop trying to recruit its staff, after an incident back in 2007.

A court document revealed that Jobs emailed former Google chief executive, Eric Schmidt, asking him to stop "stealing" employees. Schmidt agreed with the Apple chief's request.

This latest hire represents a big coup for Google and is likely to add fuel to the already intense rivalry between the firms.

Even though Apple is likely to be displeased at this latest development, it is unlikely to do anything about it. The US government wants to crack down on "no poach" agreements as they are deemed to be anti-competitive.

Apple's iOS platform has a bigger user base than arch-rival Android within Europe, according to figures from analytics firm ComScore.

Overall, there are 28.9 million active iOS devices in circulation within the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy when iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices are taken into account. This makes the the Apple platform 116 per cent larger than Android's installed base, which has 13.4 million users in Europe.

There are 16.1 million iPhone users across the five European countries, meaning that Apple has 2.7 million more smartphone in circulation than Google's Android.

ComScore also looked at the demographics and smartphone usage habits of iPad owners. Somewhat unsurprisingly, 62 per cent of iPad owners in Europe are male and the majority of these fanboys are between the 25-34 years old.

Only 8.2 per cent of iPad owners are aged between 13-17 years of age, and 17.4 per cent of devices are owned by users aged 55 and over. This suggests that the price of the device plays a role in who actually users it.

Interestingly, ComScore noted that iPad ownership in Europe extends beyond Apple fanboys. A substantial number of tablet owners use smartphones from another manufacturer. Some 26.4 per cent of iPad owners actually use a Nokia device,

Meanwhile, 15 per cent use a Samsung device alongside their iPad, and 6.6 per cent use a Sony Ericsson handset. However, just 4.8 per cent use a BlackBerry and 2.4 per cent use a Motorola handset in conjunction with the Apple device.

"This data clearly illustrates that the Apple ecosystem extends far beyond the iPhone, but it also shows that there is significant penetration of iPad users amongst owners of other handset manufacturer's devices," said Jeremy Copp, vice president of mobile at ComScore.

"BlackBerry users are the only segment of users to buck this trend and are significantly under-represented among iPad owners, which is perhaps a signal of brand loyalty as they awaited the launch of the Blackberry Playbook."

The figures show that Apple still attracts users based on its strong brand and is leading Android despite the Google platform being available on considerably more devices. However, with Google continuing to push the Android platform the battle for superiority is far from over.

Apple fans continue to line the streets of London hours before the launch of the iPad 2, with well over 350 outside the Regent Street store alone.

The first 14 fans were sat directly outside the store, with the bulk of the queue continuing along Hanover Street and St Georges Street.

Some of the more business savvy customers will be buying two and selling either one or both to make a quick buck.

Dozens of people including those below braved the temperatures and queued overnight without sleep. By the time the iPad goes on sale, they will have waited over 24 hours.

Staff shut the store at 3pm in order to prepare for the launch of the iPad 2, and will reopen at 5pm.

Meanwhile, down at Covent Garden it's a similar picture with at least 200 plus people basking in the sunshine awaiting their iPad 2.

The Apple staff were treating those waiting for 5pm to croissants and tea and coffee from nearby restaurants, as a good natured atmosphere prevailed.

V3.co.uk spoke with one member of the queue, Rich Morgan, a 32 year-old from Hong Kong, who was on holiday in London and wandered past the store at around midday, and decided to queue.

"The iPad 2 won't be in Hong Kong for a while yet so I thought I'd pick one up when I saw that the queue was quite short when I came past," he said.

"It's a bit of a waste of half a day of my vacation but it's something of an experience to do this. I don't own the original iPad but I'll use this one for web browsing, Skype calling and  applications."

Mr Morgan added that no other tablet he had seen had really caught his imagination, adding that he was planning on buying a 32GB and 64GB Wi-Fi and 3G model of the device.

"I don't think I'm being suckered in to anything. They've brought out a really good product that's super sleek and has great functionality," he added.