The first batch of Raspberry Pi has arrived at an Oxford warehouse. Orders of the coveted £31 computer could be with IT enthusiasts early next week.
The credit card-sized computer board is designed to entice children and IT enthusiasts into learning how to programme a computer.
Glenn Jarrett, head of electronics marketing at RS Components, which has taken delivery of the units said: "We are delighted to have the first batch of fully compliant products in our warehouse and to be able to invite the first wave of customers who registered for a Raspberry Pi to place their orders from this initial stock. There has been a great deal of anticipation for Raspberry Pi since its launch at the end of February, and it is important that we provide a delivery guarantee to customers when they place their order."
The Raspberry Pi is plugs into a TV and a keyboard to create a fully working, ARM-based PC. It will handle spreadsheets, word-processing, games and play high definition video.
Raspberry Pi has been so popular that the site crashed, and orders were only available to a handful of customers keen to get their hands on the supercheap computer.
If you're hoping to land one of the new computers, invitations to order from the Raspberry Pi online store will be sent out shortly to the first group of customers who registered on the site. Those who registered first will be able to order first.
For a mass-produced piece of electronic equipment, stocks of Raspberry Pi are extraordinarily limited. Only one board per customer is allowed. The creators planned to release a small amount at first, but seriously underestimated how popular it would be.
Eben Upton, executive director of the Raspberry Pi Foundation told The Huffington Post: "We're staggered by the level of demand for the Raspberry Pi. Even as recently as Christmas, we were expecting to maybe sell a few tens of thousands over the lifetime of the product, which lead us to build a fairly small initial run. Our partners are working hard to manufacture and distribute more units, with the next batch expected to arrive in the UK within the next couple of weeks."
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