T-Mobile Germany's iPhone Exclusivity Challenged by Vodafone

Reports today indicate that Vodafone has obtained a court hearing which may force Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile subsidiary in Germany to change the way it sells the iPhone.

Vodafone's case claims that T-Mobile has broken German law by selling the iPhone SIM-locked on a two-year contract. While this is the same as AT&T's deal with Apple in the U.S., laws are different in Europe, so Vodafone says.

The issue is actually particular to German law, according to Vodafone, so they won't pursue this in the U.K. They also won't have to pursue this in France.

France's iPhone will go on sale at the end of this month, but since French law says that bundling the phone and contract are illegal, Orange will offer two versions: locked to an Orange contract for €399, or unlocked, no contract for a much higher price, rumored to be as high as €999.

We all know that Vodafone was in the running for iPhone contracts in Europe prior to O2 and T-Mobile winning deals in the U.K. and Germany respectively. Sour grapes? If so, that's fine. Anything that pushes forward the prospect of forcing manufacturers and carriers to unlock their phones is great, in my book.