Apple goes by numbers and adjectives. How many devices sold is a sort of a monthly PR exercise. As usual Steve Jobs started off his September 1 presentation with numbers. Eric Zeman of Information Week reports, "He said that Apple is activating 230,000 iOS-based devices per day. But, there was more to it. It was a jab on Google, which a few weeks/months ago published that they activate around 200,000 Android devices every day.
 
Jobs' love-hate relationship with Google became apparent when he pointed that "some of our friends are counting upgrades in their numbers."

Who are these friends -- Microsoft or Google?

Apple/Google inspired Microsoft entered this number game (do you remember when was the last time they came out with an original idea?) and announced that they are activating 10 Windows 7 per second.

So, the jab could be at Microsoft! However, in most cases Microsoft gets free rides, Windows 7 comes pre-installed with generic PCs and most users were forced to upgrade from grandpa XP and rouge Vista.
 
No, I don't think it was Microsoft; it was Google.

Google has become quite responsive lately. Fortune quoted a Google spokesperson that "The Android activation numbers do not include upgrades and are, in fact, only a portion of the Android devices in the market since we only include devices that have Google services."
 
That is a bigger dent in Apple's numbers. While Apple, like an accountant, keeps an eye on every iOS device sold, Google keeps record only of those devices that have Google services. Which implies that Android may in-fact be activating more 230,000 devices.

Android has done what we are still fighting to do in the PC segment -- to break some exploiting monopolies.  I will be interested in Google's number that how many Android devices are going to the market every day.

By the way, if we include Android, MeeGo, Bada, Maemo and other versions of Linux, it seems Linux has blanketed the world. What will be that number – One million devices per day?

One more thing, Jobs numbers combine iPod, iPhone and the iPad; while Google is talking only about phones. A wave of Android tablets is about to hit the market – Samsung has already created the first ripple today. We will compare the numbers once there is decent competition.

But, I wonder, what's in the number? In the end it's just maths!

  Follow Muktware editor Swapnil Bhartiya on Google Plus.