Vintage computer that helped launch the Apple empire is being sold at auction
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/08/2023 (865 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
BOSTON (AP) — A vintage Apple computer signed by company co-founder Steve Wozniak is being sold at auction.
The Apple-1 set in motion the company that in June became the first publicly traded business to close a trading day with a $3 trillion market value, according to RR Auction in Boston. The computer has been restored to a fully operational state and comes with a custom-built case with a built-in keyboard, the agency said.
“It’s an incredibly rare commodity,” said Tim Bajarin, chairman of Creative Strategies, a technology research firm with deep knowledge of the industry. “You can trace the growth of the PC industry to the Apple-1.”
The computer, which originally sold for about $666, is expected to sell for about $200,000 at an auction that runs through Aug. 24. An Apple-1 prototype sold last year for nearly $700,000.
“Before this, the idea of having a personal computer was totally outrageous,” Bajarin said.
About 200 were manufactured in Steve Jobs’ garage in Los Altos, California, in 1976 and 1977 and about 175 of them were sold, RR’s Executive Vice President Bobby Livingston said.
“It is the legendary computer that launched Apple,” he said.
Jobs approached Paul Terrell, owner of The Byte Shop in Mountain View, California, and he agreed to buy 50 Apple-1 computers, but only if they were fully assembled, according to RR Auction. The Apple-1 thus became one of the first personal computers that did not require soldering by the purchaser, RR said, although it did not come with a power supply, case, keyboard or monitor.
It was followed by the introduction of the Apple-2 in 1977, which revolutionized the personal computing industry.
The Apple-1 up for auction was signed “Woz” by Wozniak at an event at Bryant University in 2017. The signature “adds to the desirability,” Livingston said.
It was acquired used by the owner in 1980 at a computer hobbyist show in Framingham, Massachusetts, and was used throughout the 1980s. It was brought to an operational state earlier this year by Apple expert Corey Cohen, the auction house said.
The auction also includes Apple company check No. 2 signed by Jobs and Wozniak and dated March 19, 1976.
The check for $116.97 was made out to Ramlor Inc., a circuit board maker, and experts think it was likely linked to the production of the first Apple-1 computers, RR Auction said. The check was expected to sell for $50,000, but early bidding has already surpassed that total.
