Verizon: Look Ma! No iPhone!

Verizon may well want to add the iPhone to its mobile device lineup but it’s doing perfectly well without it. The company posted earnings this morning that bested analyst estimates thanks to a strong wireless business that continues to compensate for its declining wireline division.

Verizon (VZ) reported net income of $3.21 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned 63 cents a share. Analysts had expected 59 cents a share. It added 1.3 million new wireless customers, that number bolstered by the purchase of Alltel, and ended the quarter with 86.6 million mobile subscribers. Verizon’s FiOS fiber network is also doing quite well. It added 299,000 new subscribers, pushing the total to 2.2 million. (Click on graph below to enlarge.)

Quite a performance given the current economic climate.

And what of those rumors of an iPhone deal with Apple (AAPL)? During a conference call to discuss earnings, Verizon COO Denny Strigl declined comment but didn’t rule such a deal out: “We’re always open to discussions with any supplier,” he said, adding, “We have no announcements to make relative to Apple today. Historically we haven’t been dependent on any one device. We’ve been well-positioned with high-value customers.”

Translation: Do we look like a company in need of a Jesus phone?

No. I guess not.

With 1.6 million iPhones sold in its first quarter and 40 percent of those activated during that time new to its network, AT&T (T) sure does, though. Zing….