shipped/sold dark red degrees of a circle thing

[xbd]

Originally Posted by BluOgre

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BluOgre yes, you already stated as much when you said that your problem with my post was semantics-related. Semantics is a word I understand as well you know.

The original question was trying to compare sites that track sales in hadware like Nielsen tracks software sales.

But that's just it though, those sites *do not* track the sales as NPD does - indeed their own figures are just an abstraction/amalgam of other legitimate tracking systems. And in that, I feel their numbers are worthwhile to an extent.

Yet knowing also that European tracking is very very weak on a stat basis, if we're looking at global figures, everything else aside I think truly that shipped numbers are the way to go, especially as the general pool of ownership grows larger. There is only ever a certain amount of hardware in the channel: replacement stock means shifted units.

Originally Posted by BluOgre

I don't care how close you think the sales are to shipped they are NOT exact.

But it can't possibly be exact figures that you're looking for, since NPD numbers themselves are not exact. Shipped numbers are the exact shipped numbers, whereas sales figures are only ever degrees of educated guess.