As expected, today is the day when Samsung’s new Galaxy S III becomes available – in some markets at least. According to Samsung, the S III is launching now, May 29, in 28 markets across Europe (including the UK), the Middle East, and Africa.

Yesterday, we told you that some Galaxy S III versions have been slightly delayed in the UK. However, customers can already find the white 16GB edition at Phones4U (which is offering it for free on plans starting at £31.00 per month), or the Pebble Blue 16GB version at Amazon UK (which asks a hefty £545.89 for it, SIM-free).

Until the end of 2012, Samsung will introduce the new Android ICS Galaxy in no less than 147 countries, via 297 mobile operators. As you may already know, the handset is set to debut in the US starting June, via all major carriers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile).

The S III is Samsung’s flagship smartphone of 2012, offering the latest and greatest tech the company has to offer, including a quad-core Exynos processor (not featured by all models), and eye tracking technology. Most probably, the handset will be at least as successful as the Galaxy S II, sold in more than 20 million units around the world since launch.