Nearly One Fifth of iPhones Never Activated on AT&T

According to research released by Apple and reported on Fox News’ Web site, 18 percent of the 1.4 million iPhones sold so far have not been activated. That ads up to around 250,000 phones.

The discrepancy likely owes to those who bought the phones with the intention of “unlocking” them and attempting to connect to other, unauthorized wireless networks. Apple Chief Operating Officer Timothy B. Cook said on Monday’s conference call that most of the purchases of those phones came after the company dropped prices of the iPhone in September.