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Nokia's N-Gage gaming smartphone confounded expectations—not to mention lukewarm to bad reviews—this week by surpassing the one million mark in the 11 months since the units shipped.

That's a lot of devices—out performing the year and a half it took Apple, for instance, to ship another highly publicized mobile device, the iPod. N-Gage sales also far exceed the number of Zodiacs (see Review: TapWave Zodiac is a Mobile Gamer's Paradise), a superior gaming platform, shipped by startup Tapwave.

Of course, N-Gage is backed by the muscle of the world's largest mobile phone vendor, which has used its connections with mobile operators to push the device into consumers' hands. Zodiac, by contrast, has only been available in the United States, and won't hit foreign markets until later in the year when it ships in the United Kingdom.

Nokia's numbers include sales for the original N-Gage as well as N-Gage QD. N-Gage QD started shipping in the Unites States in July, after being available in the rest of the world since May. Although reviews haven't been stellar (see Review: N-Gage QD Improves on Original), N-Gage QD is still a big improvement over the first N-Gage model.

The mobile phone giant did not parse how many of the million N-Gages shipped are the original model and how many the N-Gage QD. Our guess is that the N-Gage QD gave the platform the boost it needed to reach the million mark.

Nokia's Senior VP of Games Ilkka Raiskinen commented, "We're proud to have reached the one million milestone. Thanks to the enthusiastic consumer response to the N-Gage QD and our latest titles, we're confident that our success in leading the mobile gaming world will continue."