(Credit: Apple)
CNET - The second-quarter earnings report from AT&T is out today, revealing that the company activated 3.7 million iPhones, with 22 percent new to the company.
AT&T also posted its best-ever churn rate -- 0.97 percent for postpaid devices like the iPhone -- and total smartphone sales of 5.1 million, a third of them 4G-capable devices.
But it's the iPhone number that's most interesting. AT&T, of course, was the first American carrier to offer the industry-leading Apple device, and it enjoyed a domestic monopoly on four generations of the phone from June 2007 to February 2011. After that, Verizon joined the fray with the iPhone 4. Sprint followed later that year.
Much ink has been spilled about declining iPhone sales in the face of stiff competition from Google devices, and that's certainly an interesting angle. Just as interesting is AT&T's continued hold on the iPhone crown, five generations in -- and its slipping grip with each passing quarter. More
