European carriers not willing to bend to Apple’s iPhone demands

Vnunet.com is reporting that European wireless operators are unwilling to bow to Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s demands for the right to carry the iPhone. Avi Greengart, principal analyst at Current Analysis, said that “Operators consistently told us, not for attribution, of course, that they had spoken to Apple and found the company ‘unbelievably arrogant’, making demands that ’simply cannot be justified no matter how hot the product is’.”

There are some carriers that were so outraged at the “arrogant” demands that they declared never to carry the Apple iPhone. In that case, Apple could start selling directly to consumers - without a wireless plan or SIM card. But, were this to happen, we would imagine that the carrier-dependent visual voicemail feature would take a hit in functionality.

Steve Jobs is starting to see that his influence and might is strongest within US borders, and that he won’t be able to push his weight around the European Union. Too bad Stevie, maybe a nicer approach would do you some good. You know, that saying about honey and vinegar attracting flies (or was it bees)?

Keep your heads up, Europe, you’re bound to get the iPhone one way or another!

[Via: MacRumors]