

Image Source: Flickr (Robert Scoble)

Business is good for Verizon Wireless (VZW) . Real good. For the second consecutive quarter, Big Red posted double-digit percentage growth in year-over-year earnings, which went up 12.3 percent. Verizon's Wireless division generated record-high margins, thanks in part to millions of smartphone sales.CFO Fran Shammo stated in a conference call that the carrier sold 2.7 million iPhone devices in the second quarter, which is up from 2.3 million one year prior, but down from 3.2 million the first quarter. Droid handsets sold even better to the tune of 2.9 million devices, and of those, 2.5 million were 4G LTE handsets. Combined with other platforms, VZW sold 5.9 million smartphones in Q2.It all added up to a 7.3 percent increase (year-over-year) in wireless service revenue and an 8.6 percent in wireless retail service revenue. Data revenue rose 18.5 percent year-over-year, though it will be more interesting to see how VZW does in Q3, which will represent a full quarter of revenue from recently introduced shared data plans.Big Red also said it added 1.2 million wireless subscribers, including 888,000 postpaid customers, bringing the total to 94.2 million retail and 88.8 million postpaid.