Verizon Wireless activates 2.3 M iPhones, still trails AT&T

Verizon Wireless released its quarterly earnings this morning and confirmed that it activated 2.3 million iPhones 4 in Q2 2011. This number is impressive, but it's not as high as rival AT&T which activated 3.6 M iPhones in the same quarter. Together the two carriers sold almost 6 million iPhones which accounts for about 30% of Apple's 20 M iPhones shipped last quarter.

The iPhone 4 may be a solid handset for Verizon, but it's not the AT&T killer everyone predicted earlier this year. AT&T is holding its own against Verizon and maintaining its lead as the top iPhone carrier in the US.

Now that Verizon dropped its unlimited data plan, the two carriers are on equal footing with their available smartphone data plans. This should make next quarter's earnings that much more interesting, especially if the iPhone 5 debuts on both carriers at the same time as expected.