Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak linked rare Apple-1 computer auctioned for $375,000

An extremely rare, fully functional Apple-1 computer -- one of the first PCs that did not require the users to assemble components -- was sold for USD 375,000 at an auction here. The Apple-1 was originally conceived by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as a bare circuit board to be sold as a kit and completed by electronics hobbyists, their initial market being Palo Alto's Homebrew Computer Club.

Seeking a larger audience, Jobs approached Paul Terrell, owner of The Byte Shop in Mountain View, California, one of the first personal computer stores in the world, according to US-based RR Auction. Aiming to elevate the computer beyond the realm of the hobbyist, Terrell agreed to purchase 50 Apple-1 computers, but only if they were fully assembled.

The Apple-1 thus became one of the first 'personal' computers which did not require soldering by the end user. All together, over a span of about ten months, Jobs and Wozniak produced about 200 Apple-1 computers and sold 175 of them. This Apple-1 is one of only 60-70 remaining of the original 200 that were designed and built by Jobs and Wozniak that originally sold for USD 666.66, the auction house said in a statement.

This computer was restored to its original, operational state in June 2018 by Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen.The most remarkable aspect of this Apple-1 computer is that it is documented to be fully operational. Unlike many of the known Apple-1 boards, this unit has not had any modifications to the physical board, and the prototype area is clean and unused.

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"Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and the company that they created together made the ugly and unappealing world of technology elegant and beautiful -- bringing it mainstream, to the masses and infinitely making the world a better place to live," said Bobby Livingston, of RR Auction. "This is the machine that launched Apple Computer, a company that would define an industry and was recently able to achieve a USD 1 trillion valuation milestone," Livingston said.