T&T noted that it sold a gross of 4.8 million smartphones in the interim of the third quarter, 2.7 million of them being iPhone activations. Highly astounding for a phone, that was released in June, 2009. After the debut of the iPhone 4S, Apple proclaimed that the 3GS was free with an AT&T contract and that the iPhone 4 would plummet to $99 with a contract.

CEO Ralph de la Vega conferred about the persistent progress his company still achieves from the iPhone 3GS, amidst AT&T’s third-quarter revenue call on Thursday. ”We have another device that I think is going to dramatically change those people that are on smartphones and quick messaging devices, the 3GS, which is free with a 2-year contract,” as de la Vega pointed out. “We’ve seen tremendous, tremendous demand for that device even though it’s a generation old. And actually, we’re getting more new subscribers coming on to the 3GS on the average than other devices. So we have an inventory sold out on that device.”