Google’s Nexus 7 tablet seems to be doing too well for its own good. Google was recently forced to stop taking orders for the 16GB model and the company now says it massively underestimated demand.

According to ad network Chitika, the Nexus 7 is already posting 0.3 ad impressions per every 100 iPad impressions. It doesn’t sound like much, but bear in mind that the iPad has been around for more than two years, while the Nexus started shipping earlier this month.

Its main competitor, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, scores 0.9 impressions, and it has been on the market since Q4 2011. Analysts reckon Amazon shipped more than 4 million units in Q4 alone, followed up by a slump in Q1. Analysts now estimate that Amazon will sell about 12 million Kindles this year, so one could wrongly assume that there are up to 10 million Kindle Fires out there already. There aren’t. Forecasts were too optimistic to say the least, as Kindle Fire sales in Q1 dropped fourfold, to an estimated 750k units, so cumulative shipments are probably in the 5 to 6 million range.

The real question is how many Nexus tablets made it to consumers so far, in the first batch? The figure can’t be very high, even Google admits to underestimating demand, but according to Chitika statistics, Nexus 7 users are definitely making the most of their new toys. If the trend continues, the Nexus 7 could catch up with the Kindle Fire faster than anyone anticipated.

More here.