Google's Andy Rubin: 'six million' Android-based tablets out there

Google's Andy Rubin kicked off the opening keynote here at the Asian branch of All Things D (that's AsiaD, if you're curious), and he finally cleared up a figure we've been wondering about for eons. During a back-and-forth with Walt Mossberg about the proliferation of the iPad and whether or not Android was "a flop" in the tablet market, he affirmed that around six million Android-based tablets were "out there." Of course, that's only tablets that access Google services, as those are the only ones Google can account for with any degree of certainty. For comparison's sake, Apple pushed 15 million iPads onto the market in 2010 alone, selling three million in just 80 days after the launch of the original. In fact, Apple sold 11.12 million iPads in its most recent quarter (9.25 million the one before that), which represented a 166 percent increase year-over-year. Moral of the story? Apple still owns the tablet market, but hey, at least we now know the score.