At the auction, an original Apple-1 computer designed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak during the company’s early phases sold for $400,000. The computer, which was one of just 200 produced and marketed as a kit, had only two previous owners: a college professor and his student, to whom he sold the computer for a pittance of $650.
The Apple-1 was brought to auction by John Moran Auctioneers in California, complete with the original user manuals and software placed on cassettes, and was sold with the original user manuals and software installed on cassettes.
Apple will celebrate its 45th birthday in 2021. The world’s most valuable technological corporation is now worth in the trillions of dollars, and it all started with two Steve Jobs, a garage, and Apple Computer 1, sometimes known as Apple-1. Steve Wozniak (b. 1950), the Apple electrical engineer, and Steve Jobs, a marketing genius and industrial designer, founded the firm in 1976. (1955-2011). The Chaffey College Apple-1, valued between $400,000-600,000 by John Moran Auctioneers, is a dream come true for IT enthusiasts.
This amazing piece of technical history is in excellent shape, with many period-correct and original parts (motherboard, monitor, keyboard, two cassette tapes, three cables, and a period xerox-copy of the original owner’s manual) and is fully functional!
The artwork is constructed of Hawaiian Koa wood and is one of just a few genuine Apple-1 computers ever sell at auction, with the last one fetching an even higher price of $904,000 (£669,000) in 2014.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who was eventually persuaded by Steve Jobs to commercialize it, created the Apple-1. It was Apple’s first commercial product, and Jobs said to have sold his own automobile for a few hundred dollars to help fund its creation.
It had a personal kit that could use as is or in a bespoke wooden case, similar to the one depicted in the sold Apple-1 above, at the very frightening sum of $666.66 (about $3,000 currently allowing for inflation). The Apple-1 was revolutionary at the time, with 456 kilobytes of storage (around 300,000 times less than the average iPhone now).
They are now collector’s pieces that only show up for sale occasionally, so it’s no wonder that a computer fanatic wanted to get their hands on one while they could.
