AT&T iPhone 4S Sales Top 1 Million

By Josh Long

In less than a full week, AT&T has activated more than 1 million iPhone 4S smartphones.

That represents the most successful launch for the Dallas-based mobile giant since AT&T began selling Apples iPhone four years ago.

AT&T, the second-largest U.S. wireless operator with 68.6 million postpaid customers based on third quarter results, implies that it holds a competitive advantage over its rivals because it offers 4G speeds on the iPhone 4S.

Its no surprise that customers are clamoring for iPhone 4S and they want it to run on a network that lets them download twice as fast as competitors,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, in a statement.

But AT&T is not the only U.S. wireless carrier to report record sales of the iPhone since the device went on sale last Friday: Sprint Nextel product chief Fared Adib said the first day of sales marked the carriers best every day of sales in retail, Web and telesales for a device family in Sprint history with the launch of the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4.”

In its third-quarter earnings today, AT&T announced activating 2.7 million iPhones, down from 3.6 million activations in the previous quarter. AT&T is on pace to easily exceed the number of iPhone activations in the most recent quarter if demand for the iPhone 4S holds strong through the end of the year.