Revolutionary first product of computer giant at auction
The computer that set Apple on its way in 1976 will come under the hammer at Christie’s in South Kensington, London on Oct 9. In computer time the Apple-1, serial no 22 from the estate of former Apple employee Joe Copson is a real antique. It was designed and handbuilt by Steve Wozniak. His friend Steve Jobs suggested a number of improvements and handled sales and marketing. The pair invested all they could to finance the first Apple creation, with Jobs selling his VW and Wozniak his HP-65 calculator.
The Apple-1 consisted of a preassembled motherboard sold without a casing, power supply, keyboard, or monitor. A keyboard and a TV was needed to operate it. Priced at $666.66, the first Apple-1s were sent to purchasers direct from the garage of Jobs’s parents’ house. It is not clear how many Apple-1s were sold, but by Apr 1977 the price was dropped to $475, and it continued to be sold through Aug 1977.
