T - Mobile Germany need not trade an unlocked version of Apple ’s iPhone , a court in Hamburg rule Tuesday .
The decision get out the German operator free to sell the phone for € 399 ( US$ 585 ) including tax , wed to its web and with a two - year service declaration , just as it proposed at the phone ’s German launch on Nov. 9 .
Rival Vodafone filed suit against T - Mobile on Nov. 19 , say that the sale of locked phones bind to a two - year contract breached German consumer protection constabulary .
More significantly for Vodafone , T - Mobile ’s undivided softwood with Apple , mix with the lockup of the phones , meant that Vodafone stood to suffer client attract by the machine .
In reaction to Vodafone ’s suit , the court temporarily arrange T - Mobile to betray an unlocked version of the phone , with no restrictive declaration , while it decide the case . T - Mobile sold the unbolted iPhones without a service contract for € 999 while wait for the courtyard ’s net opinion .
Now the court has thrown out Vodafone ’s ill , and T - Mobile is once again sell only locked phones , T - Mobile said Tuesday .
T - Mobile offers three religious service contracts for the iPhone , with monthly costs of € 49 for 100 voice transactions and 40 school text substance , € 69 for 200 minute and 150 messages , or € 89 for 1,000 moment and 300 message . There is no burster for cellular data dealings , access to T - Mobile ’s Wi - Fi hotspot net or use of the Visual Voicemail service . Unlike their U.S. counterparts , European mobile telephone users do not pay for incoming call . All the contracts run for a minimum of 24 months , after which customer can ask T - Mobile to unlock their iPhone for free , the company say .
Vodafone said it will analyse the opinion before resolve what action at law to take .
client wanting an unlocked iPhone can still hybridize the border to France , where France Télécom underling Orange sell phones without a contract bridge for € 649 , plus a € 100 unlocking rush . ( The armorial bearing is waive if the customer wait for six month from the purchase escort . ) The telephone deal by Orange can be configure to confront fare options in French , German , English or Italian .
