A fully working Apple 1 computer has been put up for sale – and could be yours if you have $241,000 (£196,000) left.
The “amazing” machine, hand-numbered by Apple founder Steve Jobs, comes with “every component and accessory needed for its operation.”
Bidding is currently $241,557 and ends December 15 – but auctioneers are reckoning with a final sale price of $375,000 (£305,000).
Apple 1, the tech giant’s very first product launched in 1976, was sold as an assembled circuit board and lacked basic functions like a keyboard or monitor.
The original Apple 1 board (pictured) is marked in the hands of Steve Jobs with the stock number “01-00002”.
Apple-1 was originally sold as an assembled board and lacked basic functionality like a keyboard or monitor – but this listing includes additional equipment to bring the machine to life
WHAT IS THE APPLE-1?
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak made the Apple 1 computer in 1976 and presented it at a computer club in Palo Alto, although there were few takers.
Paul Terrell, owner of retail chain The Byte Shop, ordered 50 Apple-1s and retailed them for $666.66 (£420) – after Wozniak and Jobs agreed to assemble the circuit boards rather than selling them as kits.
It is believed that the usual price tag was chosen because Wozniak liked repeating digits.
Wozniak and Jobs handcrafted 150 more Apple 1 machines and sold them to friends and other dealers.
Fewer than 50 original Apple 1s are believed to have survived. Only eight are known to be in working condition.
Apple-1 had no keyboard or monitor, meaning users had to provide their own before using the computer. It also had 8K storage – tiny by today’s standards.
Jobs shipped them to buyers directly from his parents’ garage, now known as the “Apple Garage.”
It is not known how many were sold in 1976, but by April 1977 the price had dropped to $475 (£300).
But unlike many well-known Apple 1 computers, this “desirable” device has not undergone any changes to the physical circuit board and the prototype is “clean and unused”.
The machine is now being auctioned off by RR Auction, a Boston-based auction house.
“The most remarkable aspect of this Apple 1 computer is that it has been shown to be fully functional,” says the auction house.
‘In an extensive test, the system ran without errors for around eight hours.’
The listing includes the original Apple 1 board marked by Steve Jobs with stock number ’01-00002′.
On the left the plaque is embossed with the words, ‘Apple Computer 1, Palo Alto, Ca. Copyright 1976.’
“Discrete” data on the computer’s components matches other known Apple 1 boards of a similar vintage assembled and sold by Apple in the fall of 1976 and early 1977.
The machine was authenticated as a true original by Apple 1 expert Corey Cohen, who restored it to its original working condition.
Also included in the listing are an original Apple 1 owner’s manual, an ASCII keyboard, a Sanyo 4205 video monitor, and an Apple 1 Cassette Tape Interface (ACI).
The sale will also be accompanied by a full letter of authenticity for Jobs’ handwriting on the plaque.
Introduced in 1976, Apple-1 was the first product developed under the Apple name by Jobs and co-founder Steve Wozniak.
A total of around 175 of 200 Apple 1 machines were sold, each carrying a price of $666.66 (equivalent to about $3,126 today).
The listing includes the original Apple 1 board marked in the hands of Steve Jobs with stock number ’01-00002′ (shown in black ink).
Shown is the back of the Apple 1 board. This Apple 1 computer was restored to its original working condition by Apple 1 expert Corey Cohen
Also included in the listing is an Apple-1 Cassette Interface (ACI, shown), a card that can be added to the Apple-1 computer’s expansion slot to allow it to use cassette tape media for data storage
Pictured are Apple founders Steve Wozniak (left) and Steve Jobs (right) in 1976. Apple-1 was originally conceived by Steve Jobs and Steve ‘Woz’ Wozniak as a bare circuit board that was sold in kit form and completed by electronics hobbyists should be
Apple-1 was originally conceived as a kit to be sold to home electronics enthusiasts and the members of the Palo Alto Homebrew Computer Club, a computer group based in Menlo Park, California.
Looking for a larger audience, Jobs turned to Paul Terrell, owner of The Byte Shop in Mountain View, California, one of the world’s first personal computer stores.
Aiming to take the computer beyond the hobbyist’s realm, Terrell agreed to purchase 50 Apple 1 computers, but only if they were fully assembled.
With this in mind, the Apple-1 became one of the first “personal” computers that didn’t require soldering by the end user.
Shown is an original Apple 1 owner’s manual with the company’s first established office address
In total, Jobs and Wozniak produced about 200 Apple 1 computers and sold 175 of them over a period of about 10 months.
The Apple-1 paved the way for the development of the more advanced Apple II in early 1977, which came in a plastic case with an integrated keyboard.
Sales of the Apple II and its accessories and software increased Apple Computer’s annual sales from $774,000 to $118 million in just three years.
Now early Apple products are highly sought after, fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction.
Earlier this year, a prototype Apple-1 called “Apple Computer A” was sold by RR Auction for $677,196 (over £550,000).
The “rare” and “historic” item is essentially a circuit board covered in chips and wires with the words “Apple Computer A ©76” embossed on it.
In March 2020, another working Apple 1 model fetched $458,711 (around £335,000) at an auction in Boston.
WHAT IS THE APPLE 1?
Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak developed the Apple-1 personal computer in 1976 and presented it at a computer club in Palo Alto.
At that time, however, there were few takers.
Paul Terrell, owner of a retail chain called Byte Shop, ordered 50 of the machines and retailed them for $666.66 (£420) – after Mr Wozniak and Mr Jobs agreed to assemble the circuit boards rather than selling them as kits.
The usual price tag is believed to have been chosen because Mr. Wozniak liked repeating digits.
Wozniak and Jobs handcrafted 150 more Apple 1 machines and sold them to friends and other dealers.
Fewer than 50 original Apple-1s are believed to have survived, with only eight known to be functional.
The Apple 1 had no keyboard or monitor, meaning users had to provide their own before using the computer.
It also had tiny 8K storage – tiny by today’s standards.
Jobs shipped them to buyers straight from his parents’ garage.
It is not known how many were sold in 1976, but by April 1977 the price had dropped to $475 (£300).
The first Apple computer helped start a technological revolution that brought affordable computers out of science labs and into people’s homes.
The Apple II was introduced in April 1977 with an integrated keyboard, sound, a plastic case and eight internal expansion slots.
Around 200 Apple 1s were produced until it was discontinued in October 1977.
It is believed that only 30 to 50 of the computers still exist today.