RS Components is bringing the revolutionary Raspberry Pi 3 board and accessories to consumers across South Africa, by launching their products on takealot.com, South Africa’s largest online store, for the first time.
First released in 2012, the Raspberry Pi is a computer board the size of a credit card. The latest in the series, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, features USB ports, HDMI, sound output, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It uses a high-speed SD flash memory card to run a variety of operating systems.
Despite its small size and affordable price, a Raspberry Pi board can be used for a variety of functions that a normal desktop PC is used for, like spreadsheets, word-processing, gaming and playing videos. It can also be used for programming purposes, in education, business applications, prototyping and many other sectors. Its versatility and simplicity has made the Pi highly popular across the world.
“We thought our lifetime volumes might amount to 10 000 units – if we were lucky,” wrote founder Eben Upton in a blog.
“There was no expectation that adults would use Raspberry Pi, no expectation of commercial success and certainly no expectation that four years later we would be manufacturing tens of thousands of units a day in the UK and exporting Raspberry Pi all over the world.” This year the Pi celebrated selling 10 million units, at the same price point as when it was first introduced. Since its humble beginnings the Pi has been used to build drones, gaming machines, robots, cat feeders, home entertainment systems and mini data centres.
Brian Andrew, GM for RS South Africa, says that “it’s been a fantastic experience bringing the Raspberry Pi into South Africa and seeing the innovative ways that people have used it to solve practical everyday challenges. Being able to buy online at Takealot will improve consumer’s access to this ground-breaking device and we can’t wait to see what amazing ideas come to life using the Pi.”
To celebrate the launch, Takealot will be selling the Official Raspberry Pi 3 Starter Kit. This kit contains a Raspberry Pi 3 B Computer Board, micro-SD card with NOOBS operating system, Raspberry Pi Red & White Case, Raspberry Pi Keyboard and Mouse, HDMI Cable, USB Power Supply and the ‘Adventures in Raspberry Pi’ book by Carrie-Anne Philbin for R2 450, while stocks last.
This starter kit gives anyone – no matter their age or technical ability – access to a device that can be used as a computer, to learn how to code, play games, create awesome gadgets and so much more. Its operating system, NOOBS, is based on Linux, delivering a safe environment for users of every experience level. The Raspberry Pi’s modular family of accessories also makes it easy for budding engineers – even very young ones – to start learning about computer programming, electronics and technology.
“The Raspberry Pi is a very exciting product for us to welcome to our range,” says Julie-Anne Walsh, chief marketing officer at Takealot. “At Takealot we always want to offer products that enrich the lives of our customers. The Pi is versatile enough for children to learn computer programming and for creative individuals to build gadgets for their homes or businesses. By offering the Raspberry Pi range to our customers, we hope to give more South Africans access to this technology.”
