Nexus 7 shipping / launch set for July 13, unless it isn’t

We continue to report on the Nexus 7 release, since the device is currently the hottest Android device out there, but we can’t produce an actual launch date yet. Google promised at Google I/O a mid-July launch for its Jelly Bean device – its first tablet ever – and has been taking pre-orders ever since announcing the device.

We have no idea how many units the company sold thus far, although Google did reveal that pre-order numbers for the first day were “big.” The device is still available for pre-order directly from Google Play, but also from various other third-party retailers in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the UK.

So far we’ve seen various reports indicating that the device will hit stores this week or at some point next week, with July 12 and July 19 being rumored as potential launch dates for the tablet in the U.S. and UK, respectively. But Google did not come out with a release date yet for either market

So when is this thing coming out?

Google Play orders

Those of you that have pre-ordered the device directly from Google should be, at least in theory, the first ones to get the device. Many of our readers have shared pre-order details with us, but these do not include shipping confirmations as neither of them has received any notices from Google yet.

However, it appears that at least one lucky Nexus 7 buyer is going to get his Android 4.1 tablet later today, at least according to the screenshot above. The email says that UPS should ship the Nexus 7 today, between 2:15 – 6:15. Since xda-developers Forum user bige610 forgot to also blur the tracking number of his package (by the way, we know your name too from that screenshot), anyone can go to UPS and check the delivery status – we did that too and found out that UPS is waiting for the shipment from Google to arrive at its facility before it can update the delivery date. I guess we’ll just have to check back in a few hours to see whether the package is shipped.

While we have blurred personal information, the above UPS screenshot did reveal this package is supposed to ship somewhere in Illinois, in case this is a helpful detail to our readers.

Should this particular package arrive at its final destination today, then we expect plenty of other Galaxy Nexus buyers to receive their devices today or in the following days.

Other retailers

Yesterday we heard that Office Depot decided to put a hold on Nexus 7 sales and we assumed the order came straight from Google. Now we have more reasons to believe that Google must have stopped sales from third-party retailers because the Search giant did exactly that with a New York-based store. The Verge reports that Adorama had “over 30 units in stock” as of yesterday, but the company can’t sell the device just yet:

Google has contacted Adorama and requested that the store immediately halt all sales of the Nexus 7. Adorama staff have told some customers that the tablet will be available again starting Sunday.

We’re certainly interested to see whether Adorama will start selling the device on Sunday after all, but in case Nexus 7 shipping starts today, we could see other retailers start in-store sales in the following days.

The same online publication reports that UK retailer Ebuyer expects to start selling the Nexus 7 on July 19, or next Thursday.

We’ll be back with more details once we know more, in the mean time, check your email, you may have received shipping details too – in which case let us know whether you’re getting the device this week or not.

NEXT: Google Nexus 7 shipping in 1-2 weeks, mid-July launch still in the picture