Vodafone has secured the right to sell the iPhone in the UK, just a day after Orange broke O2’s two-year long exclusive grip on the device, in a move that is likely to lead to a price-war among the UK’s three largest mobile phone networks.

But under its deal, confirmed by Vodafone this morning, the company will not get its hands on the phone until the start of next year. To try to prevent customers defecting in the meantime, Vodafone has already opened online pre-registration for the device.

Orange on Monday took advantage of a two-year break clause in O2’s contract with Apple to grab the device for the UK market and its very public announcement injected a sense of urgency into Vodafone’s ongoing negotiations with the Californian company. Its deal is understood to have been finally signed off last night.

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