AT&T has had a love-hate relationship with the iPhone. Today, however, the mood at Apple’s exclusive U.S. carrier probably is unadulterated adoration for the iconic handset. Along with announcing $30.8 billion in second-quarter revenue, AT&T said it activated 3.2 million iPhones during the financial quarter just ended. As the late-night infomercials often say – ‘But, wait! There’s even more.”
Despite the chatter about reception problems, AT&T said demand for the iPhone 4 was ten times that of the iPhone 3GS when it was released last year. Additionally, nearly a third (27 percent) of those were new subscribers. “That is, Steve Jobs and company helped AT&T bring in another 860,000 customers,” wrote All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka.
Wednesday, CultofMac reported that Apple is nearing a decision to name T-Mobile USA as the second U.S. iPhone carrier, ending AT&T’s exclusive deal. According to an insider, the pact with T-Mobile is 80 percent certain to occur in the third quarter.
