iPhone helps AT&T and Apple weather the economy

Apple sold 3.8 million iPhones last quarter in 81 countries; 1.6 million of those were activated on the AT&T wireless network. Approximately 640,000 of those were new AT&T customers. Those are great numbers but not as impressive as the total combined iPhone/Touch count of 37 millions. In March Apple announced that they had reached the 30 million mark at the end of December 2008, which means they sold 3.2 million Touch in the first quarter and through March 30, 2009 have sold 20.8 million iPhones and 16.2 million Touch.

Even though the Touch is not a phone, it is a email/internet capable mobile computing device. If you include the Touch in a Windows Mobile/Blackberry comparison, the iPhone OS platform leaves Windows Mobile in the dust and it is fast on the heels of the Blackberry. As Apple has dominated the mobile Music Player world, it looks like they are on track to dominate the mobile email/internet mobile computing device marketplace.

With comments from Verizon and AT&T lately, it is also clear that sooner or later a bidding war may erupt for exclusivity once the current contract with AT&T is up, Verizon has their 4^th generation LTE network is running, and Apple delivers an LTE capable device. I would love to see an iPhone LTE device available on both networks. This would let AT&T go head to head with Verizon on network coverage and performance, but I am afraid Apple won't be able to refuse the cash incentives.