It is a known fact that computers, like other electronic gadgets, depreciates its value over time. But the Apple 1 computer may be an exception to the rule. After 34 years since it was first built by whiz kids Steven Jobs and Steve Wozniak, this Apple 1 computer is up for sale at $160-$250k– over 100 times its original price.
An auctioneer is selling one of the worlds first personal computer on November 23 at Christie’s in London. This distant ancestor of the ubiquitous MacBook Air is expected to earn an estimated amount of $161,600 to $242, 000. If the figures are right, that is sure a far cry from the original price of $666.66.
Homebrew Computer Club famous members Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs built the first Apple computer back in 1976 at Jobs’ family garage. It is believed that only about 200 units of Apple 1 were made by Jobs and Wozniak during 1976 to 1977.
According to CNN, the item up for auction will come in its original box– with the return address pointing back to the California garage where Apple Corp. began — and features the original Apple logo, which showed Isaac Newton getting hit on the head with an Apple.
The specs are obviously nothing compare to its distant progeny. The review of the item states:
“An Apple-1 motherboard, number 82, printed label to reverse, with a few slightly later additions including a 6502 microprocessor, labeled R6502P R6502-11 8145, printed circuit board with 4 rows A-D and columns 1-18, three capacitors, heatsink, cassette board connector, 8K bytes of RAM, keyboard interface, firmware in PROMS, low-profile sockets on all integrated circuits, video terminal, breadboard area with slightly later connector, with later soldering, wires and electrical tape to reverse, printed to obverse Apple Computer 1 Palo Alto. Ca. Copyright 1976.”
And to entice bidders, the auctioneer is throwing in a super bonus: a note, typed on a notebook paper, personally signed by Steve Jobs.
According to the auction site: “Prior to this, all home personal computers were sold as kits that involved soldering skills and a knowledge of electronics”.
Several websites and tech blogs thought the price was ridiculous. According to The Tech Herald it was “shockingly expensive”. Fellow, review site Wired.co.uk criticized the estimated price range as too high: “Despite its incredible rarity, the Apple-1 has previously been known to fetch at best $50,000 at auction, and typically garners more like $14,000 to $16,000. That’s a lot lower than the auction’s $160,000 to $240,000 estimate.”
A spokesperson from Christie, however, defended the sale, citing the computer as a rare find.
The spokesperson told CNN that “perhaps a quarter” of the original Apple-1 computers exists, but “very few are in such good, near-original condition with associated ephemera and full provenance.”
Meanwhile the Unofficial Apple Weblog mused on the profile of potential buyers : “Honestly, it’d be nice to see this either bought up by Apple themselves (though Jobs must still have even more interesting treasures from back in those days), or by a museum somewhere”.
In terms of specs, the Apple 1 is definitely not worth the price. But obviously the seller is not auctioning off the item but the history that comes along with it. The Apple-1 is regarded by some as the first personal computer and the gadget that kicked off the home computing revolution.
