Editing Typewriter (section)

=== Decline ===
The pace of change was so rapid that it was common for clerical staff to have to learn several new systems, one after the other, in just a few years.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203221938-5/women-clerical-workers-typewriter-writing-machine-margery-davies|chapter=Women Clerical Workers and the Typwriter: The Writing Machine|date=2004-01-14|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-203-22193-8|language=en|doi=10.4324/9780203221938|title= Technology and Women's Voices|editor-first=Cheris|editor-last=Kramarae|first=Margery W.|last=Davies}}</ref> While such rapid change is commonplace today, and is taken for granted, this was not always so; in fact, typewriting technology changed very little in its first 80 or 90 years.<ref>{{Cite web|last=AO|date=2020-01-29|title=The Society-Changing Invention of Typewriters|url=https://historythings.com/life-changing-invention-typewriters/|access-date=2021-05-18|website=History Things|language=en-US}}</ref>

Due to falling sales, IBM sold its typewriter division in 1991 to the newly formed [[Lexmark]], completely exiting from a market it once dominated.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1991-01-12 |title=Company News; I.B.M. to Complete Unit Sale in March |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/12/business/company-news-ibm-to-complete-unit-sale-in-march.html |access-date=2022-04-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The increasing dominance of personal computers, [[desktop publishing]], the introduction of low-cost, truly high-quality [[laser printer|laser]] and [[inkjet printer]] technologies, and the pervasive use of [[web publishing]], [[email]], [[text messaging]], and other electronic communication techniques have largely replaced typewriters in the United States. Still, {{as of|2009|lc=y}}, typewriters continued to be used by a number of government agencies and other institutions in the US, where they are primarily used to fill preprinted forms. According to a Boston typewriter repairman quoted by ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', "Every maternity ward has a typewriter, as well as funeral homes."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Keene |first=Cindy Atoji |date=2009-02-01 |title=Typewriters ring on in the fringes |work=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.boston.com/jobs/news/articles/2009/02/01/typewriters_ring_on_in_the_fringes/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826014156/http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/articles/2009/02/01/typewriters_ring_on_in_the_fringes/ |archive-date=2013-08-26}}</ref>

A rather specialized market for typewriters exists due to the regulations of many correctional systems in the US, where prisoners are prohibited from having computers or telecommunication equipment, but are allowed to own typewriters. The Swintec corporation (headquartered in [[Moonachie, New Jersey]]), which, as of 2011, still produced typewriters at its overseas factories (in Japan, [[Indonesia]], and/or [[Malaysia]]), manufactures a variety of typewriters for use in prisons, made of clear plastic (to make it harder for prisoners to hide prohibited items inside it). As of 2011, the company had contracts with prisons in 43 US states.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-04-27 |title=The death of the typewriter? Don't write it off yet |url=http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/death-typewriter-dont-write-it-yet |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503045910/http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/death-typewriter-dont-write-it-yet |archive-date=2011-05-03 |access-date=2012-03-30 |publisher=Radio Netherlands Worldwide}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-06-15 |title=Texas inmates have clear choice in typewriters |url=http://fixed-mobile-convergence.tmcnet.com/news/2011/06/15/5574540.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426011651/http://fixed-mobile-convergence.tmcnet.com/news/2011/06/15/5574540.htm |archive-date=2012-04-26 |access-date=2012-03-30 |publisher=Fixed-mobile-convergence.tmcnet.com}}</ref>

In April 2011, Godrej and Boyce, a [[Mumbai]]-based manufacturer of mechanical typewriters, closed its doors, leading to a flurry of  news reports that the "world's last typewriter factory" had shut down.<ref>{{Cite news |last=CBC News |date=April 26, 2011 |title=World's last typewriter plant stops production |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/world-s-last-typewriter-plant-stops-production-1.1090626 |url-status=live |access-date=April 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429015137/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/04/26/typewriter-factory-closing.html |archive-date=April 29, 2011 |quote=A previous version of this story did not clearly state that Godrej & Boyce appears to be the world's last maker of mechanical typewriters, which operate solely on human power. Numerous other manufacturers continue to make several types of electric typewriters.}}</ref> The reports were quickly contested, with opinions settling to agree that it was indeed the world's last producer of manual typewriters.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-04-26 |title=Wite Out? World's 'last typewriter factory' apparently isn't |url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/04/worlds-last-typewriter-factory-offers-it-final-500-machines-for-sale/1 |first=Douglas |last=Stanglin |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707111148/http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/04/worlds-last-typewriter-factory-offers-it-final-500-machines-for-sale/1 |archive-date=2012-07-07 |access-date=2012-03-30 |publisher=USA Today }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Romenesko |first=Jim |date=2011-04-26 |title=Reports of typewriter's death are premature |url=http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/romenesko/129512/reports-of-typewriters-death-are-premature/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904024830/http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/romenesko/129512/reports-of-typewriters-death-are-premature/ |archive-date=2011-09-04 |access-date=2012-03-30 |publisher=Poynter. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Memmott |first=Mark |date=2011-04-26 |title=Has The Last Typewriter Factory Closed? Not Really |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/26/135740246/has-the-last-typewriter-factory-closed-not-really |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313204452/http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/26/135740246/has-the-last-typewriter-factory-closed-not-really |archive-date=2012-03-13 |access-date=2012-03-30 |publisher=NPR }}</ref><ref name="rohrlich">{{Cite web |last=Rohrlich |first=Justin |date=2011-04-25 |title=Contrary to Reports, Typewriter Industry "Far From Dead" |url=http://www.minyanville.com/mvpremium/2011/04/25/contrary-to-reports-typewriter-industry |url-status=dead  |website=Minyanville |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224204135/http://www.minyanville.com/mvpremium/2011/04/25/contrary-to-reports-typewriter-industry/ |archive-date=2016-02-24}}</ref>

In November 2012, Brother's UK factory manufactured what it claimed to be the last typewriter ever made in the UK; the typewriter was donated to the [[London Science Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-11-20 |title=UK's 'last typewriter' produced |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20391538 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219184806/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20391538 |archive-date=2013-12-19 |access-date=2013-09-12 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

Russian typewriters use [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]], which has made the ongoing [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]] [[Azerbaijani alphabet|reconversion]] from [[Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]] to [[Latin alphabet]] more difficult. In 1997, the government of [[Turkey]] offered to donate western typewriters to the [[Republic of Azerbaijan]] in exchange for more zealous and exclusive promotion of the Latin alphabet for the Azerbaijani language; this offer, however, was declined.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cornell |first=Svante |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_qQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA283 |title=Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1135796693 |page=283}}</ref>

In Latin America and Africa, mechanical typewriters are still common because they can be used without electrical power. In Latin America, the typewriters used are most often Brazilian models; Brazil continues to produce mechanical (Facit) and electronic (Olivetti) typewriters to the present day.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ainda se fabricam máquinas de escrever? (''Are typewriters still manufactured?'') |url=http://mundoestranho.abril.com.br/materia/ainda-se-fabricam-maquinas-de-escrever |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425025818/http://mundoestranho.abril.com.br/materia/ainda-se-fabricam-maquinas-de-escrever |archive-date=2012-04-25 |access-date=2012-03-30 |publisher=Mundoestranho.abril.com.br}}</ref>

The early 21st century saw revival of interest in typewriters among certain subcultures, including [[maker culture|makers]], [[steampunk]]s, [[hipster (contemporary subculture)|hipsters]], and street poets.<ref name="PoltBook"/>