BBC's microcomputer Micro:bit now available to pre order for £13, starter bundle with battery pack, USB cable, and more for £15
After a couple of unforeseen delays, the BBC finally began delivering Micro:bit computers to Year 7 students across the UK in March.
Context & Ripple Effects
The Micro:bit began as a giveaway: the BBC announced in March 2015 that it would hand 1M mini-computers to 11-year-olds across the UK under its Make it Digital initiative, then revealed the final pocket-sized design that July for an October rollout that slipped — units only reached Year 7 classrooms this past March.
Today's move converts that delayed education program into a retail product: anyone can now pre-order the board at £13 or a starter bundle with battery pack and USB cable at £15, putting the same hardware schools received into hobbyists' hands.
First-order effects
- UK buyers outside the Year 7 school distribution can finally purchase the Micro:bit directly, at a price point (£13, £15 bundled) well below typical single-board computer kits.
- The BBC shifts from sole distributor of a pledged 1M-unit education program to a vendor with open inventory, absorbing the demand the delays built up.
Second-order effects
- Raspberry Pi, which just passed 10M sales and sells a Starter Kit with select peripherals for £99 plus tax, now faces a broadcaster-backed rival undercutting its entry price by an order of magnitude for the beginner segment.
- Accessory makers gain a new low-cost board to target — the £15 bundle shows battery packs and cables are the attach market, mirroring how ARM and IBM positioned peripherals around their IoT starter kit.
Third-order effects
- If giveaway programs keep spinning off retail channels, classroom-subsidized hardware becomes a de facto standard that shapes what a generation of UK students learns to program on — and what they buy afterward.
- Price competition at the sub-£20 tier could pressure board makers to unbundle: cheap bare boards for education, paid accessory bundles for consumers.
The trend: Education-first microcomputers are evolving from one-time national giveaways into ongoing retail products, with broadcasters and foundations competing on price against established board makers.