First Apple-1 Computer, Hand-Built By Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak, Fetches $400,000 At US Auction

The original Apple computer was hand-built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. It’s still in working condition

Representational image of an Apple-1 computer build in 1976 | Photo: Getty

New Delhi: At an auction held in the United States on Tuesday, November 9, an original Apple computer, hand-built by Apple Computers founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, sold for $400,000. The first Apple-1 computer was sold for $666.66 in 1976.

When the computer was put up for auction in California, it was expected to fetch up to $600,000, AFP reported. 

In 1975, Jobs and Wozniak set up a shop in the garage of Jobs' parents. The shop was dubbed the venture Apple. They started working on the prototype of Apple-1, which is one of the 200 devices made by them at the start of Apple Computers.

Apple-1 Computer's Unique Design

The Apple-1 computer sold at the California auction is unique because of the koa wood it is encased in. Koa wood is a richly patinated wood native to Hawaii, and only a handful of the original 200 prototypes were made using this wood.

Most of the 200 prototypes of Apple-1 built by Jobs and Wozniak were sold as component parts. Apple-1s came as motherboards. The cases, keyboards, and monitors were sold separately.  

John Moran Auctioneers, the auction house, said a computer store, named Byte Shop, which took a delivery of around 50 units, decided to encase some of the computers in wood.

Byte Shop in Mountain View, California was the first store to sell Apple products.

Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen told the Los Angeles Times, before the bidding, that Apple-1 is a kind of holy grail for vintage electronics and computer tech collectors. 

Cohen also said that a lot of people want to know what kind of a person collects Apple-1 computers, and it's not just people in the tech industry.

Still In Functioning Mode

The Apple-1 computer was sold with a 1986 Panasonic video monitor. The device has only ever had two owners, according to John Moran Auctioneers. 

A listing on the auction house's website said the device was originally purchased by an electronics professor at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

This is why the computer is called Chaffey College Apple-1. It is still in functioning mode.

Chaffey sold the computer to a student for $650 so that the former could buy an Apple-2 computer. 

The name of the student has not been disclosed. 

Auction company Bonhams earlier sold a working Apple-1 for more than $900,000 in 2014.

The Apple-1 was the first Apple product to be sold and marked the start of the tech giant, which is now worth $2 trillion. Also, it was the first personal computer that came with a warranty.