The typewriter is not dead

The typewriter is not dead... But it’s definitely dying.

The announcement made by the Indian typewriter producer Godrej and Boyce that its remaining inventory was almost cleared after ceasing production in 2009 and no other producers exist, triggered the conclusion that the era of mechanical typewriters is history.

This is bad news for the fans of mini-skirted typists but also for WhiteOut and TypEx.
Ribbons, carbon paper and foolscap producers are doomed to too. Other similar connected businesses may disappear too. But not all activities connected with them will die. Forensic scientists specialized in analyzing type-written documents are not crying because verifying inkjet cartridge ink and determining what sort of printer it came from is already used in courts. One murder case has already been solved through this method.

The truth is that the typewriter is still used, in the USA included, and the mentioned Mumbay-India producer is not the last one. Special ones are still needed in defense agencies, courts and some other government offices. Are we sure we do not need them in some post-nuke age? The military may have acquired a stock. Mechanical devices are immune to electromagnetic pulse. Humanity needs to keep a certain stock of typewriters in the event some form of catastrophe that might take out power across the planet. The Inland Revenue is still going to work and need legible tax returns even if there is a total black-out. Tax and death are the only certain things in life, people say.

Swintec-New Jersey representative has just confirmed that jails in 43 states are still being supplied with clear typewriters so they can't hide contraband inside them. Manufacturers in China, Japan and Indonesia are making typewriters for Swintec.
Several insurance agencies still need typewriter¬s for multi part forms that some of the smaller insurance carriers require. Electric typewriter¬s are still being made by Brother, Royal-Adle¬r (Olivetti) and perhaps others.
Mechanical typewriters cost around £165 each

One of the legacies of mechanical typewriters is the inefficient QWERY keyboards, specially designed to be slow to use. Faster keyboards could not be used in the early ages of the typewriter because skilled typists jammed up machines equipped with them. This was because the mechanical parts of those early machines were unable to raise the needed character and drop it back fast enough and the typewriter jammed. The typist had to stop typing, move the jammed parts back and resume, slowly.

QWERY has slightly different alternatives in other countries: in France it's an AZERTY, in Germany it's QWERZU and examples could be further given with QWERTZ in Romania and QÜERTY in Azerbaijan. But QWERTY was so entrenched that in the post-mechanical digital age that the more efficient layouts never took much of a grip. Some computer keyboards, a generation ago, were equipped with a switch that enabled the user to swap between QWERTY and the faster Dvorak system. Few people wanted these, and the switches disappeared.