Vodafone has claimed a partial victory in a legal challenge to block a German rival from selling Apple’s iPhone exclusively.

The German unit of the British mobile giant secured a temporary injunction yesterday against T-Mobile Deutschland after claiming that its deal with Apple breached local competition laws.

Vodafone said that the German operator should be forced to make the phone available over other networks, including its own. Success by Vodafone could force Apple to rethink its controversial business model for the phone.

It is also likely to sour further Vodafone’s relationship with the Californian group after its failure to secure a deal to market the gadget, which combines an iPod music player, mobile phone and web browser, anywhere in Europe.

T-Mobile will release a statement today detailing its full response to the injunction, which was granted by a court in Hamburg. It intended to appeal against the decision and threatened to sue Vodafone for damages.

German analysts said that they expected the operator to comply with Vodafone’s demands and stock “unlocked” iPhones, which work over other networks.

However, the injunction does not force T-Mobile to take any immediate action. A full hearing is scheduled for two weeks’ time.

The iPhone, which has amassed more than one million sales in the United States, went on sale in Germany this month. Buyers must sign a two-year contract with T-Mobile and the phone cannot be used on other mobile networks.

T-Mobile said yesterday: “We have spent months thoroughly testing the iPhone to ensure it works properly on our network. Given the approach adopted by the competitor Vodafone, which lost out to T-Mobile in the contest to distribute the Apple iPhone in Germany, T-Mobile reserves the right to examine the option of suing for maximum damages.”

The injunction marks the latest effort by Vodafone to claw back ground after its failure to gain the marketing rights for the iPhone, which is expected to be a Christmas bestseller.

Despite a fierce battle in the UK it lost out to O2 , and in France, to Orange. However, Apple’s approach has already been tested in France, where local laws have forced Orange to open up the phone to other networks.

In Germany, Europe’s largest market and one of the mobile sector’s fiercest, the stakes are particularly high for the British group. Arun Sarin, Vodafone’s head, has made disparaging comments about the iPhone, criticising its reliance on slower second-generation networks and claiming that the economics of Apple’s rigid revenue-sharing deals do not add up. Vodafone sought to undermine the iPhone’s UK launch by announcing its own deal with a cheap mobile music service.

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