Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY) Pulls an Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) also opted not to tell investors how many Surface RT tablets it sold during the fourth quarter, which was on sale for just over two months during that time frame. Steve Ballmer initially conceded the tablet was off to a “modest start” due to limited distribution channels.

As far as some of these mystery digits go, investors must turn to third-party estimates to get their fix. Market researcher IDC estimates that Amazon sold 6 million tablets in the fourth quarter. The researcher also estimates that Asus shipped 3.1 million tablets, which would have mostly been Nexus 7 devices. Some Android enthusiasts have tried to decode IMEI numbers on LG-built Nexus 4 smartphones to estimate that Big G only moved 370,000 units last quarter. Surface channel shipments were in the ballpark of 900,000, according to IDC’s estimates.

Credit where credit due
In fairness, BlackBerry does disclose unit sales data when it announces quarterly earnings. The company just isn’t sharing these Canada and U.K. launch figures.

Source: BlackBerry. Fiscal quarters shown.

BlackBerry will need to eventually tell investors how the Z10 is doing so they can judge for themselves how this turnaround is proceeding.

Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com, Google, and Microsoft.

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