Tekelom-Free iPhones

The unlocked Apple iPhone is available for 999 euros ($1,470), Deutsche Telekom said in a statement. The phone only costs 399 euros if buyers take a subscription from T-Mobile, Telekom's mobile unit.

There has been a thriving trade in US-sourced unlocked iPhones, but Apple says the warranty is void if the software has been hacked. Telekom also claims the unauthorized imports are illegal under German radio law.

A T-Mobile spokesperson said the company had no choice but to offer an unlocked version. Its rival, British telephone operator Vodafone, won the temporary injunction at the start of the week from a court in Hamburg. The company had challenged an exclusive distribution agreement between Apple and T-Mobile.

Telekom will also unblock iPhones that have already been bought with a subscription, it added, and the conditions would apply "until the end of the judicial procedure" currently in progress.

Telekom said some features of the German version of the iPhone would be inoperable without T-Mobile service.

Telekom lawyers are attempting to overturn the ruling.