Sales of the iPhone were, indeed, down. The company activated 2.7 million iPhones in the third quarter, compared to 3.6 million in the quarter previous. Much of this can be attributed to expectations that the next-generation iPhone, the iPhone 4S, would launch this fall (which it did).
The company has been widely criticized on its reliance on Apple's bestselling device, which became available to wireless competitors Verizon and Sprint after a four-year exclusive agreement.
AT&T now has more than 100 million wireless subscribers, having added 2.1 million in the quarter. Sales were also strong in the computing device category, with wireless subscriptions on some 505,000 tablets, aircards, MiFi devices, tethering plans and other data-only devices, an almost 80% increase from the year previous. The bulk of these new subscriptions (290,000) came from tablets.