There have been some mightily outlandish pre-sales claims for the T-Mobile G1, and even more debate over the plausibility of the first generation Android handset outselling the iPhone, but finally someone from the inner sanctum (well HTC) has revealed sales of more than 600,000 units are expected.

Peter Chou, chief executive and co-founder of HTC, stated in a recent interview in the Mercury News “We should be doing good numbers, but I can’t disclose the details. It will be more than what we originally planned. I’m saying we will ship more than 600,000.” Unfortunately he wouldn’t shed any light on the numbers for 2009 but is confident they can “do more next year.”

Do we believe him? Probably, yes. And even if they’re keeping pretty tight lipped about the actual figures 600,000 is still a pretty tasty start for an as yet unproven phone and operating system.

What else did Peter Chou reveal in the invterview? “We are not de-prioritizing Windows Mobile by any means” Ah well, we can’t have everything.

Out 30th Oct | Free on £40 contract | T-Mobile (via Mercury News)