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However, the contract-free handset comes at a steep price - 999 Euros (£720), which is not much cheaper than a new iMac or two Mac Minis. Customers will also have to pay for an airtime contract with the provider of their choice, racking up the bill even further.

T-Mobile has an exclusive deal with Apple to sell the iPhone in Germany, where Apple has no stores. Until now, customers had to sign up to a 24-month T-Mobile contract costing a minimum of 1,176 euros (£845 pounds) in order to buy the 399-euro phone.

A German court granted Vodafone a preliminary injunction this week preventing T-Mobile from locking the iPhone's SIM card to T-Mobile when making a sale.

Vodafone had hoped to win exclusive rights to sell the iPhone in Europe but lost out to T-Mobile in Germany, O2 in Britain and Orange in France.

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