T-Mobile Germany looked to appease rival Vodafone Germany, which filed a suit against T-Mobile for requiring a two-year contract for iPhone buyers, by offering the handset with no contract: For about $1500. The device will retail for about $590 with a two-year contract.
Vodafone won a temporary injunction against T-Mobile Germany after claiming that the terms of its Apple deal are uncompetitive according to German law. A Hamburg court is set to hear the case in two weeks. Vodafone claimed that its aim is not to halt T-Mobile's iPhone sales, but to allow consumers to have the freedom to select their own network provider. "We believe that T-Mobile has breached a local law in Germany," a Vodafone spokesman told the BBC.
For more on the iPhone launch in Germany:
- read this article from the BBC