European operators complain about Apple's negotiation stance for the iPhone.

The operators are quoted saying that Apple is unbelievable arrogant. Several operators apparently already have written off the iPhone.
If all negotiations fail with operators, Apple might just offer the iPhone SIM free. I am not sure if this is possible, as I think there are parts of the iPhone functionality that need service side support.

There is still about 5 month to go until the iPhone is supposed to be available in Europe. If the launch of the iPhone will be as red hot as it appears to be, then the European providers will want to have a piece of the cake, no matter what the price for it is.
More details on VNUNet. Via Heise (German).