Euro-squabble breaks out over locked iPhones in Germany : T-Mobile unlocks for nearly triple the price to comply with court order

That sucking sound you hear is Steve Jobs trying to get air after laughing too hard at the spectacle of German operators fighting over the Apple Inc. iPhone.
More fighting, more publicity, more sales-hence that haunting laughter echoing throughout the wireless industry.
Vodafone Group plc succeeded in obtaining a temporary injunction against T-Mobile’s exclusive offer of iPhones locked to its network in Germany, which prompted T-Mobile to comply-but by charging $1,482 for the unlocked model compared with the $592 the carrier was asking for a locked model tied to a two-year contract, according to an entertaining variety of European media reports.
The matter is due for a fuller airing in court in about two weeks. T-Mobile, apparently, may still claim damages to its sales from Vodafone, presumably if the injunction is overturned and T-Mobile can prove lost sales.
The incident does illustrate, however, that Apple has figured out a business model for its exclusive carrier deals that produces its desired revenue stream, regardless of local fights between carriers.
Vodafone said it would not mount a similar challenge to O2’s sale of locked iPhones in the United Kingdom, where Apple’s new device also went on sale Nov. 9.
Locked phones are going on sale in France by Orange on Nov. 29 at $592 and, apparently, the French operator also will provide unlocked models, due to French law-but may also charge the discouragingly higher $1,482 price.
Because Apple is widely believed to be paid a percentage of each exclusive carrier’s resulting data revenue from iPhone use, it is also thought to have a fall-back deal for a higher percentage of data revenue to make up for iPhone-related revenue that goes to another carrier via an unlocked device, according to media reports.
Right now, many observers undoubtedly are awaiting further word on Apple’s possible deals in China, where the operators-some with government backing-appear animate that they will not share data revenue. Such a stipulation could conceivably send the retail cost of each device beyond the reach of significant numbers of consumers, blunting the allure of that market’s size.