The Apple-I original computer recovers $ 375,000 at auction

An Apple-I computer, the first product of the computer giant, was auctioned for $ 375,000 (£ 230,000).

The machine was designed by Steve Wozniak, known as Woz, the co-founder of Apple.

His trading partner, Steve Jobs, convinced him to pack and sell the machine – it went on sale in 1976 for $ 666.66.

This is one of the few fully operational models known.

"The Apple-I was terribly malnourished compared to the Apple-II," Wozniak said in an email to the BBC on Tuesday.

"But this Apple-I computer has shown the world the formula of an affordable computer."

"Behave as if it was in 1976"

The auction was held in Boston, Massachusetts on Tuesday. The buyer was an "anonymous businessman" who put his offer online.

It is estimated that Mr. Wozniak and Mr. Jobs sold nearly 200 Apple-I computers in just under a year, thanks to an agreement with a local computer store in Palo Alto, California.

According to an online registry – not affiliated with Apple – there are only 79 computers left.

"It's a wonderful piece – and this one works!" said Bobby Livingston of RR Auctions.

"Never got out of the book" – How the Apple-I was built

By Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, addressing the BBC

"The Apple-I was an important device that was scrapped very quickly from a personal terminal. The terminal (keyboard and TV) was created to access the Arpanet long-distance network and could only handle 60 bytes of data per second. because of the speed of the modems then, while the microprocessor could access 100,000 bytes of data per second, the Apple-I was terribly malnourished compared to the Apple-II, but this computer Apple-I formulates for an affordable computer.

"I donated my drawings for free at the Homebrew Computer Club, and my belief in computing led me to ask Steve Jobs to give the first Apple-I to a woman from our club, Liza Loop, the first Apple. . " -I could possibly go into elementary school classes to show students what's a computer, Steve made me buy it (for us) for $ 300 – and I I gave it to Liza myself.

"We may have made 150 Apple-I cards, Steve Jobs managed the Apple-I business and we created a bank account of about $ 12,000, which was my idea to set it at 666, $ 66. that scarcity gives them great value.

"It's fair to say that Apple-I was the first personal computer, according to the definition of" personal. "Apple-I and Apple-II took steps that had never been taken before.

"That's how I did things, never got out of the book."

"Our experts tell us that there are maybe 15 in the world that work properly.You can make this thing work and behave like in 1976. It's rather fantastic."

The Apple-I holds a place in the history of technology as the first computer to require no assembly, other than plugging in a monitor and keyboard.

Price for Ive

The Apple-I just provides a glimpse of what was coming. Wozniak's sequel, the Apple-II lineup, then sold more than 5 million units, placing Apple on the path to the most valuable company in American history.

In August, the value of Apple exceeded $ 1 billion for the first time, thanks to sales of the iPhone.

British designer Sir Jony Ive, who designed with Mr. Jobs the iPhone, was announced on Tuesday as a recipient of the Hawking Professor's Scholarship by the Cambridge Union.

The scholarship program was established in 2017 to highlight the legacy of Professor Stephen Hawking, who passed away in March.

As part of the fellowship, Sir Jony will address the Cambridge Union on a date that has not yet been made public.

"The Hawking Committee is of the view that Sir Jony's work and patents have played a central role in Apple's success over the last two decades," said the Cambridge Union.

"His unrivaled technological expertise, coupled with his outstanding role in promoting stylish and innovative design on the world stage, has allowed Sir Jony to be the only one to receive this award."