Q3 iPhone activations flat at Verizon despite iPhone 5s, 5c launch

Q3 iPhone activations flat at Verizon despite iPhone 5s, 5c launch:
Verizon on Thursday reported impressive third-quarter results that topped Wall Street's expectations. The communications giant earned more than $2.2 billion in profit on revenue that inched up to $30.3 billion, and it is now home to 101.5 million total retail connections. Verizon also said that it sold 7.6 million smartphones during the third quarter, and it said 51% of activations were iPhones. We can't directly compare activations and sales, of course, but estimates suggest Q3 iPhone activations fell between 3.9 million and 4 million units — which is flat compared to the 3.9 million iPhones Verizon said it activated in the second quarter this year. This is a bit perplexing considering Apple's new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c launched at the tail end of the quarter. When taking into account how dramatically new iPhone sales smashed earlier records through their debut weekend, however, Verizon's activation figure could indicate that iPhone 5 and 4S sales had slowed substantially leading up to the new models' debut.