The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced that 10 million Raspberry Pi single board computers have been sold since the first model was released in 2012. An official Raspberry Pi Starter Kit has also been announced, which can be purchased online through authorized partners.
Founded in 2009, a UK-based charity came up with the first single board computer in February 2012.
“When we started the Raspberry Pi, we had a simple goal: to increase the number of people applying to study Computer Science at the University of Cambridge,” writes Eben Upton, the co-founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and technical director at Broadcom. He’s the man behind the software and hardware design of the Raspberry Pi board.
The creator of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the credit card-sized computer, who initially thought “a lifetime of work would only involve 10 pieces,” has finally announced the sale of 10 million Raspberry Pi boards. “Thanks to you, we’ve surpassed our wildest dreams by three orders of magnitude, and we’re just getting started.”
The money raised from the sale of Raspberry Pi boards is used to further develop and fuel other foundational initiatives, such as Code Club and Picademy. Code Club is a voluntary initiative that aims to develop programming skills in children aged 9 to 11. Picademy is an educational training initiative. It focuses on strengthening teachers' skills, enabling them to be more creative with computers when interacting with students.
For the first time, an official Raspberry Pi kit has been announced. It includes the following:
- Raspberry Pi 3 Model B
- 8GB NOOBS SD card
- Official case.
- Official 2.5A multi-region power supply.
- Official 1m HDMI cable.
- Optical mouse and keyboard.
- A copy of Adventures of Raspberry Pi Foundation Edition.
The Raspberry Pi Starter Kit is priced at £99 + VAT (USD 132.11 + tax) and can be purchased through authorised partners RS Components and element14.
