How many Android powered G1’s have been pre ordered? 15? 1500? 15,000? No, no and no. Try 1.5 million. That is addition to another 2 million phones that retailers are expected to sell. 3.5 million G1’s? Wow, there is going to be a lot of ugly in people’s pockets pretty soon.

But how does this compare to the iPhone’s launch? It took Apple 74 days to sell 1 million iPhones. To move 3.5 million iPhones Apple needed until almost the end of 2007 (Ars Technica). Really, there is no comparison at all, the G1 is kicking the holy crap out the iPhone at the same stage in the game , right? Hold on there cowboy! Maybe the two situations aren’t analogous.

Recall that when the iPhone originally launched it wasn’t priced at the $179 you can get a G1 for when it becomes available. The iPhone wasn’t even priced at the $199 the current low end iPhone will set you back. Nope, the original iPhone retailed for $499 for a 4 GB version and $599 for a 8 GB version. Not a valid comparison and even Apple realized the iPhone was overpriced (on a personal note: I can’t believe I bought one…on the first day).

That doesn’t mean that a better comparison isn’t out there. What about the introduction of the iPhone 3G? Yes, yes a bunch of people already had iPhones but people still managed to line up greedy tech piglets at Steve Jobs’ teat get excited about the best phone experience possible. So excited there were still lines and sellouts. What was the adoption rate of the 3G profit grab revision? According to seeking alpha It took Apple four weeks to sell 3.5 million G3 iPhones.

Wow! So if the G1, saddled as it is by T-Mobile, is selling phones much faster than Apple then the end is in sight for the iPhone right? Maybe not. Pre sales do not always translate into sales (people sign up because they might want one and they don’t want to wait) the real world experience may be a long way from the hype. The real question is: Can the G1 maintain the momentum? The quick answer for any iPhone fan is “no way” it depends on how great the G1 is. For the G1 to keep rolling it will have to better than the iPhone right away. Otherwise all people will hear is “it’s okay but…” and that will be a pure killer in the most awesomest phone available contest.