The maker of the Raspberry Pi line of single-board computers is getting ready to launch an IPO in London. According to founder and CEO Eben Upton, the move would generate more money not only for the for-profit company that develops and sells Raspberry Pi devices, but also for the non-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation that’s currently the majority shareholder of that for-profit subsidiary.
Nonetheless, since Bloomberg broke the news earlier this week, I’ve seen a lot of speculation about what this could mean for a company that got its start by building affordable, accessible computers designed for educational purposes, but which already seems to have shifted a lot of resources to supplying hardware to commercial and industrial customers. Could the need to prioritize “shareholder value” lead to big changes? Upton says no… but time will tell.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
Raspberry Pi is planning a London IPO [Ars Technica]
Raspberry Pi is preparing for an IPO, which could bring in more money. In response to concerns that answering to profit-driven shareholders could have a negative impact, the CEO says he doesn’t expect “any change in how we do things,” but it’s worth noting that he padded that statement with “while I’m involved in running the thing.”Â
We’re HMD, Human Mobile Devices [HMD / YouTube (via r/Android]
Nokia phone maker HMD rolls out a new branding video ahead of MWC, where the company is expected to launch its first HMD-branded smartphones, feature phones, and maybe even dumb phones.
Mudita is going to be releasing the Kompakt and Pure 2 [GoodEReader]
The makers of the Mudita Pure minimalist phone with an E Ink display and number pad are planning to launch two new products, starting with a Mudita Kompakt phone featuring de-Googled Android, and eventually a Mudita Pure 2.
Smartphone exodus: provider of CAT Phones & Motorola Defy is bankrupt [WinFuture]
Bullitt Group, the British phone manufactured models sold under the CAT and Motorola Defy brands, is going out of business after going bankrupt and failing to restructure.
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It will be interesting to see how well the Raspberry Pi IPO goes. I am using the new Radxa Zero 3W board and it runs quite well… but not well enough as the RPi4 board which is only $10 more.
Have you considered the Libre Computer Alta or Solitude?
Will Mudita keep their RTOS-based OS for the Pure 2? Not much point in the new hardware if they don’t have proper hardware kill switches though.
That’s a shame about Bullitt because those rugged CAT phones seemed genuinely useful for industrial settings. Who else integrates thermal cameras into their handsets, whilst making them MIL spec drop resistant and IP68 water/dust proof?