21 Facts About Olivetti SpA

One of the first commercial programmable desktop calculators, the Programma 101, was produced by Olivetti SpA in 1964 and was a commercial success.

Olivetti SpA opened its first overseas manufacturing plant in 1930, and its Divisumma electric calculator was launched in 1948.

Olivetti SpA produced Italy's first electronic computer, the transistorised Elea 9003, in 1959, and purchased the Underwood Typewriter Company that year.

In 1981, Olivetti SpA installed the electronic voting systems for the European Parliament in Strasburg and Luxembourg.

Olivetti SpA became famous for the meticulous attention it paid to the design of its products, through collaborations with notable architects and designers, over a nearly 60-year period starting in the late 1930s.

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Olivetti SpA designed the Programma 101, a precursor to the desktop computer, which was released in 1965.

Mario Bellini and Ettore Sottsass, who by then directed design for Olivetti SpA, hired designers such as George Sowden and James Irvine.

Olivetti SpA produced some industrial production machinery, including metalworking machines of the Horizon series.

Olivetti SpA began with mechanical typewriters when the company was founded in 1909, and produced them until the mid-1990s.

In 1978 Olivetti SpA was one of the first manufacturers to introduce electronic daisywheel printer-based word processing machines, called TES 401 and TES 501.

Between 1955 and 1964 Olivetti SpA developed some of the first transistorized mainframe computer systems, such as the Elea 9003.

In 1965 Olivetti SpA released the Programma 101, considered one of the first commercial desktop programmable calculators.

The Olivetti SpA M28 was the firm's first PC to have the Intel 80286 processor.

Olivetti SpA did attempt to recover its position by introducing the Envision in 1995, a full multimedia PC, to be used in the living room; this project was a failure.

Digital remained a significant purchaser of laser printers and laptops from Olivetti SpA, but had begun to manufacture its own personal computers and planned to produce its own laptop products.

Meanwhile, Olivetti SpA had been slow to introduce Alpha-based products, eventually shipping models based on Digital's own products.

Olivetti SpA then launched a hostile bid for Telecom Italia in February 1999, despite being less than a seventh of the size of its target.

In 2003 Olivetti SpA was absorbed into the Telecom Italia group, maintaining a separate identity as Olivetti SpA Tecnost.

In 2007, Olivetti SpA launched the "LINEA_OFFICE", designed by Jasper Morrison for Olivetti SpA; a new line of PCs, notebooks, printers, fax machines and calculators.

Olivetti SpA today operates in Italy and Switzerland, and has sales associates in 83 countries.

In March 2011 Olivetti SpA began producing the OliPad, its first tablet computer, featuring a ten-inch screen, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth connectivity, Nvidia Tegra 2, Android 2.