Vodafone blocks T-Mobile from selling iPhone in Germany

Pretty big news to start the day if you’re a fan of European telecommunications, or at least of Apple. European carrier Vodafone, partners with Verizon on Verizon Wireless, have obtained a restraining order against Deutche Telekom, which owns T-Mobile. This bars T-Mobile from selling the iPhone in Germany. This is after, as we learned last week, T-Mobile sold 10,000 iPhones on the first day.

Specifically, Vodafone is questioning the iPhone’s exclusive use in T-Mobile’s network and the use of the device being limited to certain fees within T- Mobile’s subscription offerings.

Vodafone isn’t generally opposed to T-Mobile’s exclusivity contract with Apple, but wants to have these new sales practices examined, the spokesman said. The restraining order doesn’t aim at a total sales stop, he added.

We’re assuming that by them not aiming at “a total sales stop,” they mean that this is just temporary.

So does this mean that the iPhone can only use certain data or voice plans, rather than the gamut of T-Mobile offerings? Can anyone with some further knowledge of the European market please shed some light on this? We feel that even if we scour the T-Mobile website — and if we knew how to read German — we wouldn’t be seeing the whole picture.

But that’s the story for now. We can file this under “things that would never happen in America.”

[CNN Money]

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