Graham Pitcher

Raspberry Pi passes the 10million mark

Blogs
1 min read

Last week, an event at the Houses of Parliament celebrated the fact that 10million Raspberry Pi computers have been shipped since its launch early in 2012. The milestone underlines Pi’s position as the most successful UK computer.Not bad for an idea that originated during a conversation between a couple of people walking through London’s Hyde Park and for which there were limited expectations; Pi Foundation trustee Pete Lomas, who designed the board, said the original idea was to make ‘a couple of thousand’.

Raspberry Pi is where it is today because RS Components and element14 licensed the design and put their weight behind it. ‘Otherwise’, said Lomas, ‘we would still be hand soldering them’.

Lindsley Ruth, group chief executive of Electrocomponents, RS’ parent, commented: “We are privileged to be a part of the phenomenal achievement that is Raspberry Pi. It has been a huge hit in many industrial applications as well as in the education sector.”

Chris Breslin, chief product officer at element14, said: “This has been an incredible journey. Raspberry Pi began as something special for the education and maker market. Now, it has been embraced by industry.”

Pi is just one element in a burgeoning market; there are Arduino boards, BeagleBoards and, more recently, the BBC micro:bit, and many similar boards are being developed. But it’s Pi that has drawn the public’s attention to this sector.