Founded more than 46 years ago on April 1, 1976, by the trio of Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple had very humble origin. Apple today, however, has developed into a giant multinational company with a market capitalization which reached $ 3 trillion which was shocking at its peak. While Apple today is mainly known as the company behind consumer electronics products such as iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers, the company starts its journey by selling products called Apple-1.
For those who are not aware, Apple-1 is an 8-bit desktop computer that is not perfect (according to current standards) which is the predecessor of all modern Apple computers. Inspiration for Apple-1 came to Steve Wozniak after he attended the first meeting of a computer hobby group named The HomeBew Computer Club. Apple-1 has a production that stretches more than a year where Jobs and Wozniak can produce more than 200 engine units. Apple also sells almost all of Apple 1 saving for 25 units. Apple-1 was replaced by an upgraded variant called Apple II in 1977. Being an important part of the history of modern computing, the original Apple-1 is now part of the Powerhouse Sydney museum collection.
But there are other important hardware that may be even more valuable than Apple-1 which is fully built completely. The component referred to here is a printed circuit board from the initial apple-1 prototype sold by hand by Steve Wozniak in 1976. The auction house based in Boston RR recently made the rare part of Apple’s history to be auctioned.
History behind the apple-1 prototype
The RR description page that detailed the Apple-1 prototype said that the PCB auctioned was the same unit as Steve Jobs used to show the Apple-1 function to Paul Terrel, which has a computer shop called The Byte Shop. This demonstration is an important point in Apple’s history and helps companies pocket the first order. At the insistence of Terrel, Jobs and Wozniak changed Apple-1 of something that would remain part of the $ 40 hobby project into a fully functional personal computer that found the taker even though the label was $ 666.66. Wozniak reportedly said this event “is the biggest single episode” in all Apple history. Terrel finally ordered 50 Apple-1 units, basically became the first company to partner with Apple.
The PCB auctioned was authentic verified based on photos taken by Terrel in 1976. The description of the RR also discussed the difference between this prototype council and the production variant. The board, for example, seems to have been soldered by hand by Steve Wozniak, which has an unusual “three -hand” technique that uses his mouth other than both hands. Wozniak also made several point-to-point connections on the back of the PCB-fast repair work to make it fully functioning on time for the demo.
From the picture, it is proven that the board, unfortunately, has experienced several forms of damage, with the top right completely lost. With more than 15 offers that have been placed, the Apple-1 PCB value is currently standing-on writing-on $ 278,005. The next offer for the same thing is pegged at $ 305,806. The auction for the history of this computing ended on August 18, 2022.
