iPhone European Launch Lackluster?

The iPhone was launched in Europe and Germany today to what seems like much less fanfare than accompanied the US launch of the phone over four months ago. Lines in the UK and Germany were much smaller than were seen in in the US while T-Mobile Germany reported selling only 10,000 phones, far less than the 270,000 that Apple reported was sold in the first day in the United States. We've previously reported about reasons why the iPhone may not be as popular in the much more sophisticated mobile phone markets in the Europe, starting with the price. Why would you pay over $500 for an iPhone and get locked into a contract when you can pick up an N95 for close to free with the same contract? Of course it should also be noted that the UK and Germany together are about half the size of the US market.