Vodafone Deutschland had won a temporary injunction forcing T-Mobile Deutschland, Apple's German iPhone partner, to sell an unlocked iPhone — which it did, charging customers $1,500. T-Mobile appealed and the injunction has now been lifted. Nicht mehr unlocked iPhones for you, Fritz! [BBC]

Kristin Sloan, from the above iPhone commercial and The Winger, spanked former Apple spokeswoman Ellen Feiss in a recent Valleywag poll. Well, now you can put a price on that kind of celebrity. About $75, or the cost of a ticket to Glasshouse's networking event tonight in New York, where Sloan is rumored to show.

AT&T still operates 65,000 payphones in 13 states — more for the advertising they can stick on the sides than for the calls they generate. Even that won't sustain them much longer, the WSJ reports. AT&T said payphone revenue is small and declining, and it wants to get out of the business by the end of next year. The first coin-operated phone, installed in Hartford, Connecticut, went into operation in 1889, 13 years after Alexander Graham Bell invented the device. The payphone killer isn't the iPhone alone, of course. The CTIA estimates that there are 251 million wireless customers in the U.S. — or 84 percent of the population. (Photo by Mayr)

The browser wars continue — but no one cares. Unless, that is, you're in the wireless world, where industry observers avidly watch tiny scraps of Web activity, as if they're divining prophecies from the clouds. Computerworld notes an interesting trend. Apple's iPhone browser has grabbed a 0.09 percent share, which might not seem like much until you compare it to the competition. Windows CE, which encompasses every Windows Mobile device shipped, holds a 0.06 percent share; Danger Research's Sidekick product family holds a tiny 0.02 percent share; and the Symbian S60 smartphone platform, favored by Nokia, has 0.01 percent.

Why did AT&T head Randall Stephenson let it slip that a much faster iPhone was coming next year? PBS pundit Robert X. Cringely says — in a roundabout 1,000-word way — that it was no slip. He also reminds us several times that it was he, Cringely, who foretold all of this. All of it. I bolded those parts to make sure he gets the credit. Deservedly. For once, I'm sure the Cringe is right.

What's with the bloggers throwing themselves down, dressed head-to-toe in red, in front of the Apple fanboy stampede? First egoblogger Robert Scoble took on the entire universe of Mac fans. Now Silicon Alley VC blogger Fred Wilson tells the world, "I fear Apple and I hate them. As much as Microsoft." What gives?

German iPhone reseller T-Mobile began selling unlocked iPhones — phones that can be used on almost any network — for €999 ($1,477) because of a court order. Orange, the iPhone reseller in France, was required to sell a "carrier independent" phone from the beginning because of French law. The iPhone went on sale in France today with the unlocked version selling for €749 vs €399 for the standard contract-limited phone. (Photo by mukluk)

The British media may be knocking Apple's iPhone, but British cartoonists Charles Peattie & Russell Taylor understand the true significance of the computer maker's shiny mobile phone. Fake Steve Jobs links to a comic strip by the duo that perfectly captures the ethos of the iPhone ... and Fake Steve. Yes, it is elitist, that's the point. The complete cartoon after the jump.

German cell provider Debitel is offering a 600-euro rebate to customers buying the 999-euro unlocked iPhone from T-Mobile. This is a clever end-run around the high price that T-Mobile is charging for court-required sales of unlocked iPhones — and it also gives you a good idea of how much money carriers make from those two-year contracts. [Reuters]

Back in October we hypothesized that Apple was going to use iTunes to securely deliver apps to iPhone and iPod Touch users. We thought this would work in the same way that users currently buy and download ringtones, songs and TV shows: "Apple is building an iTunes-based platform to securely deliver apps to users. From movies to music to software, Apple is plotting a way to keep itself in the middle of any money-making transaction on its hardware." Greg Joswiak, Apple's iPod and iPhone marketing VP confirms our hunch in an interview with Fortune.

But drooling is as far as you're going to get, fanboys. Sloan lives with self-described "creative entrepreneur" Doug Jaeger in New York. Though there may be hope, at least to judge by the story Sloan told the Observer about Jaeger. Apparently, when Steve Jobs announced the device last winter, the couple decided to hold off purchasing iPhones until their second generation. But come June, Jaeger decided he couldn't hold back. He purchased an iPhone.

So I walk into the Apple Store at 10 a.m., and there's already a 90-minute wait for repairs at the Genius Bar. I spend the next hour commiserating with another writer with a broken Mac, as whiny iPhone owners and WAAHHHHH IPOD NO PLAY students hog the line. Yes, I friggin' know that if I had spent another $100 on an Apple ProCare account and scheduled an appointment ahead of time and blah blah blah mwah mwah — give it a rest, iJerks. My Pro account had expired without so much as a warning email. What I really want is a separate service line for those of us with real, work-stopping computer problems so we needn't sit and watch those of you with bricked vanity phones because you tried some trick off Gizmodo.

T-Mobile Germany was ordered in a court injunction to sell iPhones without a contract. Today it announced it would sell the iPhone no-strings-attached for €999 ($1,477) — significantly higher than its normal €399 ($590). In addition to selling without a contract — which, incidentally, AT&T will let you do, but only if you have bad credit — the injunction also orders T-Mobile to sell an unlocked version of the phone. The company has announced that any customer who asks can have the SIM lock removed. But what a price jump! Our analysis after the jump.

Vodafone Deutschland has won a temporary injunction against T-Mobile Deutschland, Apple's German iPhone partner. The injunction orders T-Mobile to stop requiring iPhone purchasers to sign a two-year contract. A further hearing on the matter is scheduled for two weeks from now. [WSJ]

Apple tracks how iPhone owners use the "Stocks" and "Weather" widgets installed on each device, Uneasysilence claims. All mobile devices possess a unique International Mobile Equipment Identity number, and as the screenshot below indicates, the iPhone sends its user's unique IMEI to an Apple server each time the widgets perform a query. The data includes which stock ticker was queried.

According to cops in the 78th Precinct, Park Slope has had its first reported iPhone theft! A woman who lives on Union Street was the victim—she was walking home from the subway when two perps approached her and one of them filched the device from her jacket pocket. There goes the neighborhood. [Brooklyn Paper]

You know, it's real easy for the press to sit back and mock Apple fanboys. But though the cult of Jobs doesn't require the worship of zombies and the ceremonial consumption of divine flesh as do more popular cults, its rites of passage can be just as trying for the devoted. On this point, Fox's MadTV eloquently elaborates in music and lyrics.

Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman, in a startling change of heart, proclaimed that the music industry is, at least partly, to blame for its current woes, mentioning something about a misplaced war with consumers. With that off his chest, Bronfman launched into a full-fledged groveling routine, proclaiming Apple's iTunes store a paragon of digital music. He went on and on, praising the genius of selling individual tracks, the user interface, and billing platform. Bronfman even threw unnecessary praise towards the iPhone — like we need to hear from a music guy what makes for a good cell phone. Why all the posterior-smooching? Bronfman is realizing that tough talk isn't helping it get out of "indecent" pricing schemes when it comes time to renew Warner's contract with Apple.

Apple and China Mobile are in talks to bring the iPhone to China in 2008. Apple sold the first iPhones outside the U.S. last week, launching in Britain and Germany. Apple has said it wants to start selling iPhones in Asia in 2008. We suspect both companies want to launch before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing — and make some calls from Mount Everest too. [AP]

British cell company O2, Apple's iPhone partner in the U.K., reports that "tens of thousands" of iPhones were sold over the weekend. Two thirds of iPhone buyers were new to O2 and the company says it has ordered "several hundred thousand" phones for the holiday shopping season. Sadly, though, first-day lines disappointed. [Times Online]