WIRED

Virtually every Raspberry Pi Zero in existence has been sold within 24 hours of the miniature £4 computer's launch, The Raspberry Pi Foundation has said.

Around 20,000 Pi Zeroes have been sold, along with almost every copy of MagPi magazine, which included a free Zero on the cover.


The Zero's popularity has also made it the target for touts. Copies of MagPi are on eBay for up to £99, with some already bought for up to £49.99. "You'd think we'd be used to it by now, but we're always amazed by the level of interest in new Raspberry Pi products," Eben Upton, founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, tells WIRED. "Right now it appears that we've sold every individual Zero we made (that's roughly 20,000 units) and most of the 10,000 MagPi issues with cover-mounted units; people are scouring the country for the last few Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury and Smiths branches that haven't sold out."

"If there's been a sour note, it's that a small number of touts have taken advantage of the shortage to line their pockets on eBay."

Upton said the Foundation was building new units "as fast as we can" and encouraged those wanting to get their hands on a board to not give eBay opportunists their money. Helpfully a page on Raspbery Pi's website is helping to match interested early-adopters with stockists of the magazine.

The £4 Zero is a fully-featured Raspberry Pi computer, which includes a MiniHDMI port, two MicroUSB ports and a processor clocked at 40 percent faster than the original full-size Pi. The Zero, which is made in Pencoed, Wales, also runs full Raspian as well as applications including Scratch and Minecraft.


In a separate pre-launch interview with WIRED, Upton said the Zero was as revolutionary as the first Pi. "It is about as big a change as the original Raspberry Pi was. Really everything we've learned has been packed into this one device."

WIRED is now searching for the most innovative and creative uses of the thousands of Pi Zeroes already sold. Full details will follow on WIRED.co.uk and future issues of the WIRED magazine.

The full specs of the Raspberry Pi Zero include: