Motorola is to sell over half a million combined Droid sales in the December quarter as demand for the company's latest phone remains strong following the initial rush of the November 6 launch according to analyst research.

Retail stores are reporting strong follow-through sales through last week, according to a survey conducted by Broadpoint AmTech analyst Mark McKechnie.

He further believes at least another 200 thousand units will sell by Black Friday - the shopping day directly following Thanksgiving -- and 150 thousand to 200 thousand through the remainder of the holiday season. Coupling this with the expected 200 thousand Verizon-only sell in prior to the launch, Motorola is expected to move 600 thousand units for the quarter.

All stores appear well stocked with none reporting shortage and the checks with stores indicate no issues with returns of the Droid, McKechnie said.

Historically, Apple's iPhone 3GS reached over 1 million sales on June 21, 2009, the third day after it was launched, while Blackberry Storm sold one million units by the end of January 2009, about 70 days after initial launch. HTC G1 and Magic hit one million units sales by this April and August, six months and three months after launch respectively.

McKechnie viewed the Storm's initial launch success at Verizon last year as the upper end of what Droid might be able to achieve in its first few months. While the Droid marketing push appears stronger than last year's Storm push, the Storm benefited from a large, Verizon Blackberry subscriber base, as well as from being the first 3G and touchscreen Blackberry.

McKechnie expects 10 million Motorola Android units in 2010 at a $286, including overseas sales.

According to the report, the unit forecast for Q4 and 2010 is driven by Verizon's strong marketing commitment to the Android platform, the positive 2010 handset market forecast and confidence in Motorola's ability to execute on its plan for 20 more smartphones in 2010 covering all major U.S. carriers.

Software Motorola Blackberry