It had looked like a potentially humiliating Christmas for Vodafone.

With O2 tipped as the winner of the heavily contested deal to provide Apple’s iPhone in the UK, the mobile giant had risked the embarrassment of being forced to sit back and watch legions of its 17.4 million UK cusomter base switch across to its rival.

Instead, in a masterstroke only days before Apple’s expected announcement, the mobile giant unveiled itself as the UK partner for a rival service, MusicStation.

The MusicStation brand may not yet have the resonance with consumers of the Apple iPhone brand.

But analysts deem the subscription service, with its innovative flat-rate fee and ability to enable consumers to download thousands of tracks on the move, a serious contender in the mobile music war.

Notoriously promiscuous mobile customers are not restricted to one handset — they can keep upgrading their phone and still retain access to the service.

The impact for Vodafone will be all the greater because, for the time being, at least, the deal is on an exclusive basis.

Arun Sarin has once again demonstrated his fightback ability and guaranteed that Apple will have a fight on its hands.

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