The first mechanical typewriter was invented in 1867. Shortly thereafter Mark Twain submitted the first typewritten manuscript to a publisher. You may be surprised to know that only weeks ago the last factory manufacturing mechanical typewriters closed its doors, driven into obsolescence by the computer and word processor. The factory in Mumbai, India, stopped production in 2009, and its inventory has dwindled to just a few hundred machines, most of them Arabic-language models. No more will be made.
Although typewriters became obsolete years ago in the West, they were still common in India, until recently. This is a story that has played out again and again over the course of human progress.
A new invention is developed, generates creativity and efficiency, and is superseded by superior technology within a few generations; or as happens nowadays, within years.
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