First things first: 1.9 million activations is nothing to scoff at. It’s a huge number, and represents AT&T and Apple’s unquestionable success in the smartphone arena. Including the 4th Quarter results, the company can claim 4.3 million total iPhone activations since the introduction of the iPhone 3G, an impressive number by anyone’s standards and a certain earmark of Apple and AT&T’s continuing dominance in the consumer market. The company also revealed, somewhat cryptically, that iPhone users generate “higher revenue” and “lower churn rates”. Good, right? Right. On the other hand, the company also reported that its general earnings were down to $2.4 billion from $3.1 billion just one year prior. The drop is completely understandable, however, given the general recession and the fact that the company seems to be fending off any sort of massive disruption. On another, slightly more comical note, AT&T blamed some of its earnings drop on its “iPhone 3G Initiative” designed to build out coverage and tower infrastructure to cope with the increased network demands. We’re not sure about you, but it doesn’t seem like the aforementioned initiative has hit anywhere close to our home towers…
AT&T claims 1.9 million new iPhone 3G activations during Q4 2008
Updated Dec 19th, 2018 6:13PM EST
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Josh Karp followed his love of technology since a kid through to the present day. As a Special Correspondent at BGR, and part of the first editorial team, Josh covers press conferences, trade shows and other events around the world. An expert in all things mobile, Josh has more than eighteen years of experience covering the wireless industry.
