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German Court Set to Rule on T-Mobile iPhone Exclusivity Tuesday

Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 7:55 AM - by

A German court had originally planned on issuing a ruling in the dispute between T-Mobile and Vodafone over Apple's iPhone on Monday, but now it appears the companies will have to wait until Tuesday. Vodafone won an earlier case to break T-Mobile's exclusive hold on the iPhone, but now both companies are in limbo awaiting the court's decision on T-Mobile's appeal, according to Forbes.

Vodafone claimed that German law prohibited T-Mobile from being the exclusive service provider for the iPhone and wanted to see an unlocked version that would work on other carrier networks. The German court sided with Vodafone in early November, and T-Mobile subsequently appealed the ruling.

T-Mobile has been offering an unlocked version of the combination iPod and smart phone to German customers in compliance with the court order. The unlocked version, however, costs more than twice what customers pay for the version that is locked to the T-Mobile network.

Germany isn't the only country where the customers can legitimately by an unlocked iPhone. When the handheld went on sale in France at the end of November, Orange offered an unlocked model along with one that is tied to its cell network. In the United States, the iPhone service is offered exclusively through AT&T, and O2 in the United Kingdom.

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