The prototype is named “Apple Computer A” and is considered the product with which the legendary story of the Apple Group began. Despite its poor condition, it has an estimated value of half a million dollars. It remains to be seen whether this amount can be reached in the auction.
Apple Computer A was a successful demonstration model
In 1976, Steve Jobs presented the prototype to Paul Terrell, owner of The Bite Shop. He then bought 50 copies of the Apple I computer, and The Byte Shop became the first store to sell Apple computers. The retail price at that time was $666.66.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak personally pieced together the prototype. This can be seen in the position of the soldering points, which caused bubbles to form as a result of his special technique: while soldering, Wozniak held the wire in one hand and the soldering iron and solder in his mouth in the other.
Historically valuable, but no longer to its makers
Apple Computer A is said to have been sitting in the famous garage where Apple made its debut about 30 years ago before Jobs handed it over to its current owner. He left Apple to found the Next Computer. Apple bought the company years later, and so Jobs returned to Apple.
The condition of the mainboard is not particularly good: a part is missing from the board itself, and many components that were originally installed are no longer available. This is probably due to the fact that Steve Jobs was always striving to improve his products and therefore repeatedly removed parts from Apple Computer A and installed them elsewhere over time.
Experts have confirmed the authenticity of the prototype using Polaroid photographs. The mainboard is now being auctioned off at auction house RR Auctions, and you can still bid until August 18th. On 22 July, the bid was approximately $230,000, with RB Auctions expecting up to $500,000.
sources say
- RR Auctions (Online Auction House)
- hygge
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