Did Google Really Sell 1 Million Nexus 7s Last Month?

Apple releases sales numbers, but none of the major Android manufacturers do, so market share comparisons–especially of the tablet market–are hard to do. Which is why it was interesting when Asus executive David Chang let this goodie slip to the Wall Street Journal:

“At the beginning, [Nexus 7 shipments] was, for instance, 500K units a month, then maybe 600, 700K. This latest month, it was close to 1 million.”

Wow! One million Nexus 7 tablets sold in a month–that’s a lot, but nothing compared to Apple’s 100 million iPads sold. From Chang’s context, it’s difficult to know whether this figure refers to tablets shipped or whether it refers to tablets sold. Shipping counts are often used to inflate and conflate sales numbers: Asus may have shipped a million tablets, but 900,000 could be languishing on shelves. Still, that’s an impressive number, and probably makes the Nexus 7 the most widely adopted Android tablet–except for the Kindle Fire, which, of course, we have no idea how many have sold either.

Google’s spokesperson said the company hasn’t released official sales figures.