Apple’s iPhone is turning out to be good news for AT&T’s bottom line. The company reported that it activated 2.4 million iPhones during its third fiscal quarter, and that about 40 percent of those activations were for new customers.

Speaking during the company’s third quarter earnings report, AT&T President and CEO Ralph de la Vega commented "iPhone 3G activations have exceeded our expectations and they have brought a significant halo effect, which has driven store traffic and helped sales of other devices."

He added "iPhone is delivering very high-quality customers... In simple words, we are winning share at the high end."

AT&T is winning that share at a faster pace, too. It took the cell service provider 82 days to hit the 2.4 million activation mark with the iPhone 3G. In comparison, it took some nine months to reach that number with the original iPhone.

Same store traffic is up 15 percent compared to the same quarter last year, and AT&T is attributing that to the iPhone 3G, too.

iPhone customers are also generating more revenue for the company, especially when compared with other customers. "The net present value, or the NPV of an iPhone subscriber, is more than two times the NPV of our average postpaid subscriber." Mr. de la Vega said.

Apple shipped 6.9 million iPhones during its fourth fiscal quarter of 2008, topping RIM’s 6.1 million BlackBerry smartphones for the same time period.

AT&T is Apple’s exclusive iPhone partner in the United States. The combination iPod and smartphone is available in over 40 countries, and Apple is hoping to expand that to 70 countries before the end of 2008.