Still waiting for some objectivity .....
... to these comments. All I can read so far is "I hate Apple" or "I love Apple" with a smattering of "I hate you too..." for good measure.
The article was about the Cynical Europeans not buying the iPhone in droves. Fair enough, that does seem to be the case as you can walk into any official outlet and pick one up there and then. But that does not necessarily mean that the Europeans have taken a cynical approach to the new device. There are many factors at work, not the least being the strange paradigm of having to buy a handset in addition to a contract.
In the UK, at least, that is currently an extraordinary situation. We are generally given [even high end] handsets as part and parcel of the contract. Some choose to buy SIM-free at full manufacturer price (£450+ for the classic N95) but the majority of us take it in contract, sometimes for an initial fee. The N95, again, was usually £100 initial fee on a contract although it is now generally free of charge.
I do believe that the Apple iPhone's £267 is a very fair up-front charge for the device. The O2 contract is not all that bad either when taking into consideration the overall product. Most UK operators still charge extraordinary amounts for mobile data (Orange being the current joker in the pack).
That the iPhone is not a world-beating technology marvel is indisputable. It is, overall, rather average in the phone department. But it has its creditable features, not the least being the screen size, the unique UI, the browser even with its limitations and the close coupling with Apple's OS X Tiger and Leopard. The latter may not make much sense to the PC world, but then again WM devices tend not to interface too easily with OS X without some additional expense and effort.
I wonder, objectively, how many other manufacturers of mobile handsets brought out anything close to the iPhone in terms of its very apparent technological milestones and overall build quality. That in a first generation product. I mean, FFS poor old NEC [for example] still cannot get it right even after all the years that it has been manufacturing the devices. LG try, oh they try, but are blighted by quirky OS in their entire range. The actual number of successful and capable mobile manufacturers is quite limited really - although there are many out there. That Apple are held up to Nokia's light I think is an accolade for Apple by the naysayers. Nokia being the undisputed world champions are years ahead of Apple in terms of market share. So a comparison is not only futile but also lacks objectivity, it serves only to obsfucate - perhaps on purpose to try an score points in a pointless game.
In the end Apple will bring out successive generations of iPhone. As it does so the technology will improve and, perhaps, cater for a wider spread of the buying population. Unfortunately, I predict, that in its wake will be the same group of naysaying wolves howling futilely into the cold night air.