by , 8:40 AM EDT, July 24th, 2007

Apple's stock began to slide Tuesday morning after AT&T's quarterly earnings report revealed that the company had activated only 146,000 iPhones during the first two days the combination iPod and smart phone was available. Apple closed on Monday at US$143.70, but dipped down near $140 in pre-market trading.

Even though investors seemed disappointed in the iPhone numbers, AT&T executives were pleased. Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer, commented "Our launch with Apple of the breakthrough iPhone has quickly redefined customer expectations for their wireless experience, initial response was unprecedented, and sales in July continue to be strong."

Although activation numbers might seem lower than investors were hoping for, they aren't necessarily an indication of how many iPhone units were sold on June 29 and June 30. In many cases, customers were purchasing more than one iPhone at a time, and some buyers were picking up units to resell with no intention of activating them.

If the activation numbers are any indication, however, it may well turn out that Apple sold fewer than the 500,00 units in the first two days that some analysts were hoping for.

Apple is currently trading in the pre-market at $140.47, down 3.23 (2.25%).