Vodafone failed yesterday in its attempt to block a German rival from selling Apple’s iPhone exclusively, when a Hamburg court ruled that T-Mobile could market the phone only to its customers.

It dismissed a temporary injunction, issued at the request of Vodafone, that stopped the German operator from preventing the phone being used on other networks.

Vodafone, which had claimed that the tie-up breached German competition laws, could now face a substantial claim for damages from T-Mobile.

The case had threatened to undermine Apple’s iPhone business model. The Californian group had sought to maximise revenues from the gadget – a combined music player, mobile phone and internet browser – by striking exclusive operator deals in each European market. In return for these exclusive deals, each partner mobile network agreed to hand over to Apple a significant chunk of customer revenues.

Competition laws in France have forced Apple to open up the phone to other networks there, in addition to its “exclusive” French partner Orange.

A spokesman for Vodafone said: “The intention of the legal action was to ensure clarity on the commercial postion in the German marketplace. We have not received the written ruling, but we will be examining it closely to decide on any future actions.

“Vodafone Germany does not believe the pricing model is in the best interests of the German consumer.” The group said that it was considering whether to appeal against the ruling.

Analysts have suggested that the case may have been an attempt by Vodafone, which failed to win any iPhone contracts, to disrupt T-Mobile’s sales strategy in the preChristmas sales period.

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