Someone didn't sleep well last night.

The state-coddled German electronics consumer was left out in the cold Tuesday when a Hamburg court ruled that, yes, Apple can indeed say iWay or the highway. The court decided that the iPhone, recently introduced in Europe, may indeed require customers to sign a two-year exclusive contract with Deutsche Telekom, reversing an injunction from competing provider Vodafone two weeks ago in the "interests of the German consumer." Locked-in SIM contracts such as the Apple-Telekom deal are prized by mobile industry players for reducing the likelihood of customers skipping off to a cheaper (or better) provider, a practice that according to MarketWatch is derisively called churn. Apparently, Apple won't have to take down those expensive looking "exklusiv bei T-Mobile" adverts after all. The block, Telekom says, will be removed after the two-year contract expires.

EU residents seeking mobile phone liberté can still run to the French border for un-locked iPhones after T-Mobile lost an injunction from rival provider Orange. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is said to have felt so snubbed by the ruling that he has refused to attend any iPhone promotions in France.

Under the temporary injunction in Germany, the iPhone was being sold unlocked for EUR 999. Telekom says it may sue for damages incurred in those two weeks. Talk about insult to injury.