AT&T announces a record 3.2 million iPhones activated in third quarter

AT&T has released its earnings report for the third quarter of 2009, and among the information was the fact that 3.2 million iPhones have been activated throughout the quarter, the highest quarterly total in history. The new record tops the 2.4 million iPhones that were activated in the third quarter of 2008, after the release of the iPhone 3G. Among noteable information within the earnings report, iPhones accounted for an incredible 74% of total AT&T postpaid activations of “integrated devices” that have either a physical or virtual keyboard in addition to voice capabilities. Nearly 40% of the iPhone activations were from new AT&T customers, which is consistent with previous quarterly performances. Below is a snippet from the earnings report:

- Strongest Integrated Device Quarter To Date. Postpaid 3G integrated wireless devices added to AT&T’s network in the third quarter totaled 4.3 million, the largest quarterly increase in the company’s history. Over the past year, the number of postpaid integrated devices on AT&T’s network more than doubled, and at the end of the third quarter, 41.7 percent of AT&T’s 63.4 million postpaid subscribers had integrated devices. The average ARPU for integrated devices on AT&T’s network continues to be 1.8 times that of the company’s nonintegrated-device base.

- Record iPhone Activations. AT&T’s third-quarter integrated device growth included 3.2 million iPhone activations, also the company’s largest quarterly total to date, with nearly 40 percent of the activations for customers who were new to AT&T.
Overall, AT&T experienced a net gain of two million wireless subscribers, the highest such third-quarter additions in company history, and also reduced customer churn levels to record lows.

Apple had also reported earlier this week as part an earnings announcement that it had sold a total of 7.4 million iPhones during the third quarter. All of this evidence seems to support the thought that Apple will continue to do very well for the fourth quarter and throughout the next year.

Read [ZDNet]