14 DAY TRIAL // Casio announced that it has sold the one billionth pocket calculator. In case you don't remind it, Casio's first electronic calculator (bulky, typewriter-like, called "model 001") went on sale in the beginning of 1965.
Because we are talking history here, let me point out that Bell Punch/Sumlock's "ANITA", which is considered to be the world's first electronic calculator was available in 1961 for about $2200. Nevertheless, Casio says that its 001 was the first unit to come with a memory function. It is pretty hard to say who was first and when because in the beginning, electronic calculators were pretty rare and incorporated proprietary technologies which made different brands looked and acted completely different.
Casio's history goes way back in time with 1957 being the year when the company introduced "the world's first fully electric compact relay calculator" (model 14-A). By comparison, Sharp, which recently celebrated 40 years of electronic calculators, revealed its first model in 1964.
Continuing the history lesson, I would also like to remind you that Sharp was also the one to introduce the handheld calculator (Sharp EL-8/Facit 1111) but at that moment (1971), it was selling for $395. The unit included rechargeable NiCd batteries. Soon, low cost models followed such as the $29.95 Sinclair Cambridge.
In 1973, Texas Instruments introduced the first algebraic pocket calculator and months after that, HP introduced the first CMOS based device and opened the gates to scientific calculus on handheld devices. The continuous development of LED and then LCD technology led to a complete integration in the pocket calculators. At the same time, the miniaturization trend resulted in very small yet functional devices.