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Steve Jobs’ original prototype for Apple computer put up on auction
The RR Auction was taking bids on Jobs’ original design for the “Apple 1” computer- the same prototype that helped Jobs and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak secure their first big order in 1976.
Technology giant Apple's co-founder late Steve Jobs' original prototype for the organisation's first-ever computer has been put up for auction. According to a report by the New York Post, the RR Auction was taking bids on Jobs’ original design for the “Apple 1” computer- the same prototype that helped Jobs and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak secure their first big order in 1976.
The device was hand-soldered by Wozniak himself.
As of late Monday evening, the bid was at $278,005 ( ₹2.21 crore). The bidding will go on till August 18, which means the price is likely to shoot much higher by the time the auction is closed, the New York Post report added.
“Few Apple artefacts could be considered as rare, early, or historic as this Apple-1 prototype, which spent many years on the 'Apple Garage' property—a site now entwined in the folklore of American business, where two unlikely heroes founded an empire,” the RR auction said in its website.
“Without Wozniak, Jobs had no product—he very nearly joined a company marketing balance scales made out of cardboard. Without Jobs, Woz had no market—he had already given away the Apple-1 design to members of the Homebrew Computer Club, and had little interest in exploiting it for profit. Without this prototype, and without Paul Terrell, the Apple-1 might have been 'just another computer kit.'” the description added.
In 2021, a rare Apple-1 computer that was built in Steve Jobs' home auctioned for $400,000 ( ₹3.19 crore) and in 2020, another Apple-1 was sold for $470,000 (3.75 crore), a report by Business Insider said.
Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, was posthumously awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom- the United States' highest civilian honour- by President Joe Biden earlier in July.
