When Is 5 Million Not Really 5 Million?

Matt Brian:

The Samsung Galaxy Note has many detractors, it’s a 5.3-inch smartphone-cum-tablet that has to be seen (or played with) to be believed.

However, the device has topped 1 million sales within two months from its launch and today, the Korean vendor has announced it has already passed 5 million units sold in five months.

Umm… sorta. Samsung is kind of lying to us again, though. They love to use units shipped as units sold. The sentiment seems to be, "Once our resellers have them we consider them sold". I wonder if your resellers carry the same confidence. Samsung's site, linked to above, actually says (via Google Translate):

The end of October last year released "Galaxy notes" released five months after the global cumulative sales 5,000,000 (supply base) has been exceeded.

So, for sure not end users, just retailers who then try to sell them to end users. Got it.

Another "Shipped" Rant

Jordan Crook, whose work I typically enjoy:

According to the firm, Apple shipped nearly 23.4 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2011, which is 128 percent year-over-year growth. Cupertino sihpped over 62.8 million mobile PCs over the entirety of 2011, representing 132 percent year-over-year growth.

Who gives a rip about shipped numbers?!!?! (Note the excessive punctuation to illustrate my frustration). Shipped numbers don't mean anything unless you put them together with sold numbers.