Smartphone number of the day: 66% of ATT smartphone sales are iPhone

AppInsider runs with a rumor that I do not believe:

A new report claims Apple's iPhone comprised 66 percent of all device sales at AT&T's corporate retail stores in December, while Android is said to have taken an 8.5 percent share.

The Mac Observer cited a source inside AT&T on Friday as indicating that the company's stores sold 981,000 iPhones between Dec. 1 and Dec. 27. By comparison, 126,000 Android devices were reportedly sold during the same period.

Basic feature phones apparently performed better than Android at the stores, as 128,000 units were sold during December. Research in Motion's BlackBerry devices continued to languish, with just 74,000 sold this month. Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 fared even worse.

Thoughts?

Thoughts...

I don't believe it. Even with the caveat of AT&T corporate stores and month of December. If true, than when coupled with the datapoint showing Android's slowing *growth* than not only is my long-ago prediction of Android peaking at 50% market going to ring true, but the economy, my guess, is putting a hard stop on *new* smartphone sales -- with Android sales about to come to a screeching halt.

Except, I don't believe this. 

I've been in multiple AT&T stores in at least 2-3 different states. There's a semi-prominent (?) iPhone display, and a vast array of Android devices at various price points and styles. 

With the occasional Blackberry or Windows Phone, like the proverbial cheese, standing alone.

That set-up, unless AT&T doesn't know what they're doing, does not suggest that everyone's buying iPhones and feature phones. Still, will be interesting when we get confirmed numbers.

Bonus thoughts!

Yes, I was the *first* to tell you that part of the reason for Google's giant Motorola acquisition was to build a 'new' Android and start pumping out feature phones in the US and around the world. 

This rumor suggests that at the very least, I'm sniffing around the right spot...