@eoin31: Based on that it looks like for a European the difference is LTE, which as jhawkkw says won't work with the North American model. If you've no plans to use that in the lifetime of the phone I reckon you'll be OK.
Bear in mind that US prices are quoted without sales taxes, European prices are quoted with, so that's about half of the price difference accounted for. Also a European model will have a 2 year warranty, while at best you'll get 1 year with the US one (and if the purchase was in your American friend's name and then shipped to you I'm not sure you'll have that). BTW if you have it shipped, rather than buying it yourself and carrying it back as a personal possession, there may be import charges - I'd check this before going ahead (Edit: ah, I see LuvMusic has already raised this).