“A German court has granted telecoms group Vodafone a preliminary injunction against Deutsche Telekom’s mobile unit T-Mobile over its sales terms for Apple’ iPhone,” Nicola Leske reports for Reuters.
“According to the injunction, filed at a regional court in Hamburg, the goal is to stop the sale of the iPhone if it is sold only in connection with a 24 month T-Mobile contract and/or is blocked in such a way that it can only be used in a T-Mobile network,” Leske reports.
“A T-Mobile spokesman said on Tuesday the company had received the injunction but would continue to sell the music-playing and Web-browsing device, which went on sale Nov 9 in Germany,” Leske reports.
“The head of Vodafone Germany told German daily Frankfurter Rundschau the goal was not to keep T-Mobile from selling the popular iPhone,” Leske reports. “Instead the company wanted the court to examine whether the terms T-Mobile had set were acceptable. Customers can buy the handset for 399 euros (286 pounds) but are obliged to agree to a 24-month contract with T-Mobile.”
Leske reports, “Vodafone lost out to T-Mobile and Telefonica’s O2 and France Telecom to sell the iPhone in Europe but has begun selling a similar multimedia handset from Samsung Electronics.”
MacDailyNews Take: These also-rans with their “similar” iPhones; “similar” only insofar as they make phone calls and purport to play music. “Similar” as a wagon is to a race car.
Full article here.
Hilde Arends reports for Dow Jones Newswires, “T-Mobile… said Tuesday that its marketing model for the iPhone is correct.”
“Vodafone objects to the fact that the iPhone can be used only on Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile networks,” Arends reports. “T-Mobile Deutschland said in its statement Tuesday that sales of the iPhone are continuing and that it reserves the right to claim damages from Vodafone.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Mike in Helsinki” for the heads up.]
I want the iPhone sold in Finland. I want to see what Nokia will come up with to combat Apple.
Apple is the evil empire and must be taken down by all means. Microsoft is our savior, and will fight for our freedoms.
Sour grapes make for pitiful whine….
Folksy translation:
“Mama don’t take my Vodafone
Leave your boy so far from home
Mama don’t take my Vodafone away”
If it is forbidden they will just want it more.
T-Mobile thanks Vodafone for all of the free publicity.
This is great publicity for the iPhone. The loser telcos are in effect saying that the iPhone is so superior, that they too must be granted access to it.
All the fuzz in Germany about the T Mobile injonction is about the statut of the SIM locked iPhone. I know it’s illegal in France, Belgium, Finland, etc, In Germany it could be the same. It’s seem that outside the Anglosphere (U.S., Canada, U.K.), Apple must offers to consumers the option for an unlocked SIM iPhone.
I think that the Apple lawyers division is already studying carefully their international consumers law codes…
I never tougnt that iTunes was a real target for the EU courts as a “non-competitive legal scam”. But excluse contracts like those in Europe with Orange or T Mobile could much more be contested against by consumer’s associations there or by local competition.
The real reason for the restraining order is that Vodafone and T-Mobile used to date and things got ugly. T-Mobile tried to get Vodafone drunk and then lay some heavy cable. T-Mobile thought it could “Get More” and wanted them to “Stay Closer” and “Stick Together” while Vodafone just wanted to “Make the Most of Now”.
Millions of calls went unreturned. True story.
Ampar
Would that make iPhone the needle and OS X the heroin?
Oh, TT. You’re so vein!
Vodafone Challenges iPhone Deal in Germany
By Stefan Mechnig and Daniel Thomas
Word Count: 400 | Companies Featured in This Article: Deutsche Telekom, Apple, Vodafone, AT&T;, Telefonica, France Telecom
A German court has ordered T-Mobile Deutschland GmbH, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, to change its marketing for Apple Inc.’s iPhone by Wednesday.
The court has prohibited T-Mobile from continuing to sell the iPhone only in combination with a two-year contract and it has demanded that the product be allowed to function in networks other than those of T-Mobile.
The changed conditions will be valid until another hearing at the Hamburg court, which is expected in two weeks, a Deutsche …
So Vodafone has the first strike…mmmh…
Amp
That’s the point!
“…stop the sale of the iPhone if it is sold only in connection with a 24 month T-Mobile contract “
You don’t need the 24-month contract to buy the iPhone. Only if you want to use it. There’s a difference, right?
@ silverhawk
Nokia is already coming out with their own almost identical copy of the iPhone, that is if they don’t get sued by Apple first for copyright infringements.
To echo416: Thanks for the link. That’s truly a pathetic copy. I think it falls under trade dress infringement like the iMac rip-offs but IANAL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_dress
ok if it is the “law”
I will have to sell on every network
darn
Well done Vodafone. Restrictive practice is the same in any language – perhaps there is something to this EU organisation after all.
Telco’s should compete on quality of service not anti-competitive lock-ins.
Who am I?
Hey, how come I don’t have a star next to my name? How do you get a star?
give teacher an apple !!
JohnVajohn24601: “Hey, how come I don’t have a star next to my name? How do you get a star?”
Look right above the first comment.
That Trade Dress Law reminds me of when Harley sued someone (Yamaha?) for infringing on the SOUND of a Harley.
I say let the consumer decide with their wallets what is fair, not the government.
Pretty amazing how MacDailyGarbage will shout their BS about anything closed in the MS world but when it comes to Apple you lick Jobs ass. How does that brown eye taste hypocrites?