AT&T released second-quarter earnings today, disclosing that it activated 146,000 iPhones during the first two days of sale (which coincided with the last two days of the quarter).

The number appears a little lower than what analysts had expected, but that could be because it's reporting activations and not sales, and in the first two days the iPhone was available, AT&T had a hard time getting all the phones up and running.

But if the initial numbers provide any idea of how sales are going, and if the activations are close at all, then the numbers could be slightly disappointing.

Following the opening weekend of iPhone sales June 29, CNNMoney.com reported that they might sell as many as 500,000, according to an estimate by Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster.

The analyst had previously forecasted that the first weekend's sales would total 200,000, which appears closer to the mark. But even though numbers may not have hit half a million, sales have been good to AT&T, the exclusive seller.

Of the 146,000 iPhone subscribers, AT&T said 40 percent of them were new customers. In all, the wireless carrier said that it gained 1.5 million subscribers during the second quarter to reach 63.7 million -- allowing it to maintain its lead over the second-place carrier Verizon Wireless.

The company also noted that sales continued to be strong in July with store traffic above historical levels.

We might get a better picture Wednesday on real sales vs. activations when Apple reports its second-quarter earnings.