Report of 1.5 M G1s pre-sold retracted as 'figurative representation'

A projection that T-Mobile has received 1.5 million pre-orders for the Android-based G1 -- a device that launches tomorrow -- is incorrect, according to The Motley Fool which first made that projection.

The admission came about two weeks after The Motley Fool published the widely recirculated but inaccurate number on October 14, a number which knowledgeable sources refused to verify for BetaNews that day. BetaNews received the retraction from the Fool this afternoon.

A T-Mobile spokesperson told BetaNews on October 14 that although the phone was still on target for availability on October 22, T-Mobile could not confirm a pre-order figure of 1.5 million G1s, or for any amount.

Today, a Fool editor sent out an e-mail acknowledging that the publication had goofed in its calculations.

"As you know, recently The Motley Fool published an article about the G1
Android phone with a figure of pre-ordered handsets that was incorrectly calculated," said Katrina Chan, Motley Fool's coordinating sector editor, in an e-mail to BetaNews today. "The author of the article intended for that number to be a figurative representation rather than an official pre-order figure. We have since corrected the article and regret the error."

Delivery of the first Android-based phones remains set for tomorrow.