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Just thought I would add a little comment here since I have a slightly different perspective living in Germany (for the time being) and have heard some other information about the extended service intervals.
BMW does not provide free service over here, but the service intervals are the same. BMW would not change service intervals world-wide just so the dealerships in NA could provide free service. The reason I have read is that BMW was pressured to lower the environmental impact of their cars. Going to extended (or life-time in some cases) fluids lowers the amount of possible environmental impact that the car will make over the course of it's lifetime.
One other thing to think about: If it could be proven that the BMW extended service intervals severely degraded the life of the car, I am sure that BMW NA would have a nasty class action lawsuit on their hands for trying to ensure shortened car life to generate more business (just because Americans are sue happy)
With all of that said, I will be doing a break-in change myself, and probably half-cycle changes for the life-time of the car once i get it in a couple of weeks.
(Oh, and my comment about Americans being sue-happy....I am American, just working overseas on an Army base. After living over here, it is refreshing to see that you can't sue over as many stupid things in other countries...not saying a class action suit over something like that wouldn't be appropriate, just saying it would only happen in the US)
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