Sales vs Activation; Google don't sell phones
Apple know exactly how many iPhones are paid for as they paid for them to be made. My guess is that there accounting/CRM systems would keep track of every serial number for every SKU and where they are in the sales pipeline. I would also guess they check everything connecting to iTunes, for any clones or unauthorised Taiwanese manufacturers ‘overruns’ .
Microsoft charges their partners $n dollars for every phone shipped with their mobile OS’s so they know exactly how many have been made.. and would have reports showing just how many haven’t been sold.
With Android, Google probably have some very good ideas of how many are made and sold via reports from partners like HTC, Motorola and Samsung.. but I see lots of very cheap Chinese ebook readers/mini tablets that are running some Android version without access to the Android market place. I suspect most of those, the hardware manufacturer has simply FTP’d down a copy of an Android source, compiled a version and sold the device without Google ever knowing.. at least until the user chooses to activate it (if they even do this). In short, Google don’t sell phones ( unlike Apple, Blackberry or Nokia) nor phone OS licenses (MS), so can’t count sales directly.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
