We knew that Raspberry Pi was within the Hardware Libre one of the most used platforms. But we didn't know that its sales had surpassed the number of units sold by the legendary Commodore 64 retro game console.
As reported by one of the creators of the project, Eben Upton, the raspberry plate project has reached the figure of 12,5 million units sold, higher than the units sold for the Commodore 64.
This figure has something of a trap and this has been indicated by various media, since the figure of 12,5 million is adding all the Raspberry Pi models that have been released, while for Commodore 64, only one game console model is considered and not all models launched, so the comparison is not on equal terms. In any case, with this figure, taking into account or not Commodore 64, Raspberry Pi is the third platform in number of units after PC and Mac, something interesting that places the Hardware Libre at the head of many projects and in many other markets or situations where electronics or computing is necessary.
Within the models sold, Raspberry Pi Zero has been a revolution, with more than 100.000 units sold, but of course, the most popular model has been Raspberry Pi 3, a model that has been and is the most popular of all the raspberry board models.
Personally, I think that Raspberry Pi is a great platform and its figure is something normal or at least logical, especially if we take into account that there are many projects related to this sbc board. However, I think that both platforms are different, they are from different times as well as the PC and the Mac with Raspberry Pi. That is, its comparison is not possible, just as it is not comparable to do it with television or with other platforms. Regardless, the 12,5 million units is a success for a project of which only 20.000 units were expected Do not you think?