The buzz around the launch of the iPhone in the UK seems to be pointing to - well - the lack of buzz. The Register is calling it a flop:

Journalists and PR minders outnumbered buyers on Friday night as interest in Apple's iPhone miserably failed to live up to the pre-launch hype in the UK.

When the iPhone launched in the US, on June 29th - a Friday - the blogosphere generated 0.105 % attention (about 600 posts) for the query 'iphone +launch". On November the 9th - also a Friday - the UK launch produced 0.025% for the same query (about 160 posts). Given the difference in the size of the countries, this doesn't perhaps seem as stark as people are painting it. However, one would have to look deeper into the nature of these posts. Perhaps all the US buzz was full of swooning admiration whereas all the UK buzz is scoffing at the lack of buyers.