Raspberry Pi sales hit 3 million

Raspberry Pi

Sales of Raspberry Pi microcomputers have reached three million, with themilestone coinciding with a royal visit.

"It was strange, and rather brilliant, to hear [Prince Andrew] introducing what we do to the Queen, and to talk to him about industrial applications for the Raspberry Pi," Liz Upton, communications head for the non-profit organisation detailed in ablog post.

"We had some more news to tell people at the reception too: back in October, when Prince Andrew visited, we were celebrating the sale of our 2 millionth Raspberry Pi. We were able to announce the sale of the 3 millionth Raspberry Pi."

The small device, which is now manufactured in the UK has been widely celebrated for introducing a new generation of children to the world of programming, software engineering, interface design and application development.

The microcomputer is sold for 30 and has attracted huge amounts of interest from the tech community since its launch in 2012. It has been compared to the BBC Micro because of its appeal to children and teens and potential to educate many future programmers and developers.

The low price has made the devices desirable, the ease of use and power have inspired all sorts of creations.

The Raspberry Pi foundation has its own store to which developers can submit apps, and the machine has been used for a wide variety of projects over the last two years, including a functioning R2-D2 and the BeetBox, an interactive drum kit made of vegetables.

Caroline Preece

Caroline has been writing about technology for more than a decade, switching between consumer smart home news and reviews and in-depth B2B industry coverage. In addition to her work for IT Pro and Cloud Pro, she has contributed to a number of titles including Expert Reviews, TechRadar, The Week and many more. She is currently the smart home editor across Future Publishing's homes titles.

You can get in touch with Caroline via email at caroline.preece@futurenet.com.