[Update: Following consultation with Newzoo, we've written a long analysis piece on its research, which can be found here. We've also rewritten our headline. In turn, it's re-issued its press release, clarifying some points and correcting its Kindle Fire UK user total. Obviously, it meant Kindle.]

Most companies are keen to trumpet their successes but Amazon is notorious reticent about giving out numbers when it comes to its Kindle hardware.

Of course, analysts abhor a vacuum and Amazon's coyness gives them licence to get all expansive with the realeconomik.

One such is Dutch intelligence outfit Newzoo, which says Amazon has sold 10 million of its Kindle Fire Android tablets.

Finger in the air

To be honest, it's not rocket science given that the device - still only officially available in North America - was reckoned to have sold five million during 2011.

Slightly more interestingly, the company calculates that the device has 17.4 million active users. How, it doesn't say.

Expanding its horizons, it thinks there are 30.5 million active users of iPad in the US, this despite the fact that more than 55 million iPads have been sold globally.

On a similar usage basis to Kindle Fire, this would suggest there are only 17.5 million iPads in the US - clearly an underestimate.

Moreover, Newzoo reckons 6.5 million Americans use both devices, with the US tablet user total being 59 million-strong. Newzoo guesses 36 percent of this audience plays games.

But perhaps the most strange aspect of Newzoo's research is that it thinks there are 3.7 million Kindle Fire users in the UK, despite the fact the device isn't available in the UK and you can only download content if you have an Amazon US account.

[source: Newzoo]