The NPD Group

Apple's iPhone 3G can add another trophy to its crowded shelf. On Monday, The NPD Group reported that the popular smartphone surpassed the Motorola RAZR in the third quarter as "the leading handset purchased by adult consumers in the U.S."

The RAZR had reigned as the top-selling consumer handset for the past 12 quarters. The report by the market researcher is based on more than 150,000 online consumer surveys each month, projected to represent all U.S. consumers 18 years and older.

'A Watershed Shift'

The NPD Group, a market-research firm, reports that 30 percent of the U.S. consumers who purchased Apple's iPhone 3G from its release on July 11 through August switched mobile carriers in order to join AT&T, which holds exclusive U.S. sales rights for the red-hot device.

About half of AT&T's new iPhone 3G customers elected to switch from Verizon Wireless, while 24 percent came from T-Mobile defections, and 19 percent abandoned Sprint, noted Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD.

In a brief statement last week, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin announced the FCC will try to complete its review of two major wireless mergers by the end of the year. The goal, Martin said, is to reach a decision before a new president takes office in January.

The deals are Sprint's proposed purchase of a 51 percent stake in a reconstituted Clearwire, and Verizon's planned $28 billion purchase of Alltel. If approved, the Alltel merger would make Verizon the largest U.S. cellular carrier with roughly 80 million subscribers, versus AT&T's 71.4 million.