Vodafone has obtained a court order requiring T-Mobile to sell Apple's iPhone without a contract plan in Germany, according to Dow Jones. T-Mobile, which is Apple's exclusive carrier for the iPhone in Germany, has two weeks to respond to the Hamburg court's injunction, which can be overturned by an appeals process. Vodafone was one of the frontrunners to sell the iPhone in Europe, but lost out to O2, Orange and T-Mobile in the UK, France and Germany respectively. However the carrier says its move is not motivated out of spite or by a desire to stop iPhone sales.

"We want it to be available to buyers without a mandatory calling plan," says Vodafone Germany chief executive Friedrich Joussen. "If I had wanted to halt sales, I could have, but I didn't." His comments come a day after Vodafone CEO, Arun Sarin, labelled the iPhone a "pretty poor experience," playing down its impact on the mobile market. However, in Mar, when carrier negotiations with Apple were still ongoing, Joussen had hailed the iPhone for the positive effect it would have on mobile operators and the mobile music market.

In all the markets where it is being launched, Apple is selling the iPhone through an exclusive carrier, on a contract of at least 18 months or two years in the case of Germany. However, Vodafone now claims that this practice goes against German competition rules. It says that it fears that other handset makers may follow suit and begin tying their handsets to specific providers, further harming the German wireless market.

A victory could create a similar situation to France, where Apple will be forced to sell an unblocked version of the iPhone due to French laws, which prohibit phones being exclusive to any one carrier. However, a prohibitive price of as much as USD1,292 for the unlocked device - more than twice the regular price - is likely to prevent its widespread adoption, considering that a hacker can reportedly unlock it for USD60.