Apple I
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Apple I sells for "only" $365,000 at auction
With the original Apple computers - AKA Apple I or Apple-1 - being as scarce as the proverbial hens teeth, prices for the units hand-built by Steve Wozniak and sold by Steve Jobs have been soaring into the stratosphere. As an example, in October of 2014, the Henry Ford Museum purchased an Apple I for US$905,000. Well, yesterday a working Apple I was sold by Christies auction house for a paltry $365,000. Out of the 200 or so Apple I units produced in the early days of Apple, only 63 are known to exist and the majority of those are no longer in working order. We're not sure why the device sold yesterday - which was apparently in mint condition - was such a relative bargain. That selling price represents an increase in value of more than 547 times the original Apple I retail price, which was $666.66. That's not a bad return on investment if the computer was sold by its original owner, although he/she would have done much better to invest that money in Apple stock back when the company went public in 1980.
Steve Sande12.12.2014
Today is Apple's 38th birthday
On Thursday April 1, 1976 Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne started Apple Computers. Their first product was the Apple I computer kit, built by hand by its designer Steve Wozniak. The Apple I consisted of just a motherboard, leaving users to provide their own keyboard, monitor, and case. It went on sale in June of that year for $666.66, or $2,773 in today's dollars. Now Apple is 38 years old. 456 months, 1,983 weeks, and 13,879 days of existence. In the years since its founding, the company has released groundbreaking computers from the Apple II to the Macbook Pro, constantly pushing its products to new levels of innovation. These innovations revolutionized MP3 players (launching the iPod in 2001), tablets (the iPad in 2010), and smartphones (the iPhone in 2007). Of the founding pioneers of the company, two are still alive today. Steve Jobs left the company in 1985 after a power struggle with the board of directors, but returned in the late 90s to help save the company. Without Steve Jobs, Apple may very well have gone bankrupt. Under his leadership as CEO Apple introduced the iPod, iPad, iPhone, iMac, and its own digital content retailer, iTunes. Jobs passed away in 2011 following a struggle with pancreatic cancer. Steve Wozniak left Apple in 1987 and continued his work as an entrepreneur, starting a new company called CL 9 which developed the first programmable universal remote control in 1987. Beyond his business pursuits Wozniak also taught 5th grade and appeared on Dancing with the Stars. He continues to work part time with Apple to this day. As for Ronald Wayne, his story is a slightly sad one. Wayne was an important part of Apple's founding, writing the original partnership agreement and drawing the company's first logo. For his work he was given a ten percent stake in the company, which he sold shortly after the company was founded out of fears he might be responsible for any debt the company accumulated. He reportedly sold his shares in the company for $2,300, or $9,657.88 in modern dollars. If he had held onto his ten percent he would be a billionaire today. In 2010 he explained the sale to the San Jose Mercury News. "I don't waste my time getting frustrated about things that didn't work out," he says. "I left Apple for reasons that seemed sound to me at the time. Why should I go back and 'what if' myself? If I did, I'd be in a rubber room by now." Happy birthday, Apple. You've been a source of innovation and technological foresight for almost four decades now. We can't wait to see what the next four decades will bring.
John-Michael Bond04.01.2014
Want to own the computer that inspired the Apple II? Visit eBay now
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it's also an important part of innovation. In keeping with that idea we'd like to draw your attention to this wonderful rare eBay listing. A seller in Louisiana is offering up a working SOL-20 computer, one of only 10,000 ever produced. Currently the listing is going for $1,275. Many readers won't be aware of the importance of the SOL-20 to Apple's legacy. According to legend (aka Walter Isaacson's book Steve Jobs) in 1976 at the first annual Personal Computer Festival, held on Labor Day weekend, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak arrived with the Apple I in a cigar box. While Jobs walked around the exhibition hall, he was reassured that the Apple I was better than the competition in terms of functionality. There was just one thing nagging at him; the SOL-20. According to Isaacson, Jobs was confident that his product had the best circuitry, but the SOL-20 was better looking. It came in a beautiful metal case, with a built-in keyboard and power supply. When compared to the scrappy Apple I, the SOL-20 looked more like a professional machine. Apple I Apple II The jump in Apple's esthetic design between the Apple I and Apple II is obvious when the two are compared side by side. The SOL-20 may be largely lost to time, a footnote for enthusiasts and historians, but for a brief window you have the opportunity to own one. At bare minimum, look at your Mac's beautiful modern design and thank the stars for the dose of inspiration that helped push Jobs and Wozniak towards the future.
John-Michael Bond03.31.2014
Daily Update for June 21, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Steve Sande06.22.2013
Apple 1 fails to sell at auction
Christie's auctioned off an original Apple 1 motherboard this week and the piece of Apple history failed to garner enough bids to reach its reserve price. According to an ABC News report, the Apple 1 had a top bid of £32,000 (US$51,155), which is well below the £50,000 ($80,000) reserve. The computer will now go back to the consignor, who will decide what to do with the machine. According to the auction description, the Apple I came from the estate of former Apple employee Joe Copson. It is numbered 01-0022 and is believed to be the 22nd model to be manufactured by Apple in 1976. The motherboard was originally sold without a case, keyboard or monitor, but the model featured in the auction included a third-party case designed to look like an Apple II. Approximately 200 models of the Apple 1 were sold between 1976 and 1977, and only 50 of those units are still in circulation. [Via The Mac Observer]
Kelly Hodgkins10.10.2012Daily Update for August 30, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Steve Sande08.30.2012
Early Apple employee Daniel Kottke on the Apple I, more
Apple employee #12, Daniel Kottke, talked to Avi Solomon of Boing Boing about his time working at Apple. The interview has captivating stories about Kottke's life in the early 1970s tech scene. Besides a long discussion of the influence of psychedelics on technology, Kottke also talks about Wozniak's hardware genius and Jobs's flair for design, which was starting to develop when he was working on the Apple I. Kottke says, It was brilliant of Steve to find Rod Holt to make a switching power supply, which was a lightweight power supply with no big heavy transformers, and to put the plastic case on it. So you could actually take the Apple ][ under your arm and carry it somewhere. We never really advertised that but it was part of the appeal. And Steve never forgot that. You can read more about Kottke and his early Apple adventures in the Boing Boing interview.
Kelly Hodgkins08.10.2012Daily Update for June 18, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Steve Sande06.18.2012
Stanford archives provide rare glimpse into Apple's early days as mere seedling (video)
Housed in a climate controlled storage facility operated by Stanford University, nearly 600 feet of shelf space is dedicated to preserve documents, videos and memorabilia of Apple and its early days as a young startup. The collection holds rare gems such as interviews with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, both of whom discuss some of the rationale behind Apple's name -- Jobs asserts that it was selected to place his company ahead of Atari in the phone book. Originally intended to furnish Apple's corporate museum, the materials were donated to Stanford in 1997 after Steve Jobs' return to the company, which was most concerned with financial survival at the time. According to the university, more than 20 significant collections have been added to the archives in the subsequent years. The warehouse holds blueprints of the Apple I, user manuals, magazine ads, TV commercials and T-shirts, along with thousands of photographs that document Steve Jobs during his years as CEO of NeXT. Other rarities include a $5,000 loan document -- signed by the two Steve's and the partnership's third co-founder, Ron Wayne -- a spoof of Ghostbusters that starred former CEO John Sculley and other company leaders, who played "Blue Busters" to eliminate IBM, and handwritten sales entries of the very first Apple II's. While the location of the facility is undisclosed, we can only hope that, some day, the collection will be showcased for fanboys, fangirls and the public alike.
Zachary Lutz01.02.2012
Two days in the desert with Apple's lost founder, Ron Wayne
"I have to ask you something," Ron Wayne begins, as we stand to leave his office, signaling the close of our day-long conversation. He takes a slightly dramatic pause, adding, "compared to other people, is my life really that interesting?" This isn't modesty; it's earnestness. Wayne is genuinely curious about what makes his 77 years on earth so fascinating to have warranted my traveling across the country in order to spend a few days in his presence. I answer, honestly, that it's his time with Apple that has made him such a figure of interest. "Oh," he responds. "So it's my brushes with famous people. I'm a footnote in someone else's story." Thirty-five years ago, Ronald G. Wayne helped co-found the Apple Computer Company with two men 20 years his junior, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak -- names that have since become synonymous with the personal computer revolution of the early 80s. For Wayne, however, it was a gig that lasted all of a dozen days, abruptly ending when he marched down to the Santa Clara County Registry Office to have himself stricken from the contract he'd authored. His is a name that pops up every few years or so, shrouded in mystery, the "forgotten" or "unknown" founder of one of the world's most successful companies – and perhaps more infamously, the man who once owned 10 percent of its stock, only to walk away from it all a mere $2,300 richer.%Gallery-141297%
Brian Heater12.19.2011
Apple co-founder Ron Wayne's stash of early documents (eyes-on)
About a week ago, we traveled to the desert to spend two days with Ron Wayne. The 77-year-old Pahrump, Nevada resident has had a number of careers in his long life, working for Atari, a few slot machine companies, developing devices for use on the ocean floor and running a collectables shop in Northern California. In his semi-retired state, Wayne sells stamps and coins to supplement his checks from the government. He's no doubt best known, however, for his role in the founding of the Apple Computer company, alongside Steves Jobs and Wozniak, a role at which he spent a little more than a week. During our time in Pahrump, Wayne was kind enough to let us comb over a number of papers from his days with the nascent computer company. The documents, stashed in a USPS mailer kept by the door of his office, were a veritable treasure trove of information, including pages of pages of plans and pencils drawings of an Apple I enclosure Jobs asked Wayne to build -- his creation was ultimately rejected by Apple and lost to history as the company gained steam. Also stored in the envelope were a facsimile of the contract signed by Wayne, Woz and Jobs, which recently sold on auction for more than $1 million -- in fact, it was Wayne's original copy that hit the auction block. He had parted ways with it for far, far less some time ago. Wayne's Statement of Withdrawal is in the pile as well -- the document effectively ended his term with the company, filed for a $5 fee. Also inside are an Apple I operation manual, with the company's original logo, designed by Wayne himself and an Apple II order form. Check out all of the above in the gallery below.%Gallery-141277%
Brian Heater12.16.2011
iStation iPad dock is retro-Apple cool
You were probably born too late to have purchased one of the first computers out of Apple -- the original Apple I. This machine came as a set of completed circuit boards that you had to build your own case for. Many early owners of the US$666.66 computer used wood for the case, since it was cheap and easy to work with. If you like that wooden retro chic, you're in luck -- M.I.C. Gadget has created the iStation dock ($85.90) just for you. The iStation is actually an iPad dock with speakers and a Bluetooth keyboard, and when you prop up an iPad on top of it and take out your contact lenses, it actually looks kinda sorta like an Apple I. For those who like the more modern look of the Apple II, M.I.C. Gadget has also produced a white plastic version. That version actually needs to be Apple II beige to be correct, but who's grading them on accuracy (other than me)? M.I.C. Gadget has a full page of beautiful photographs of the iStation to get you to reach for your wallet, or you can stay here and watch the video showing just how to set up the dock to work with your iPad.
Steve Sande12.01.2011
Crapgadget: iStation woos Apple romantics with the glory of the late '70s, fails
Some people buy tablets for their portability and convenience. Others get sucked into the pitfalls of gadget lust, snatching up the latest tech. But for the dedicated fanboy, there's a whole world of unnecessary kitsch just waiting to relieve'em of those hard-earned greenbacks. Enter M.I.C.'s iStation: an iOS dock in sorta, kinda Apple I / II clothing (their claim, not ours) that's ready and willing to cash in on your tech industry nostalgia. Alright, so this $85 setup won't exactly ape those Jobs / Woz lovechildren of the late '70s, but it does pack stereo speakers, a subwoofer, Bluetooth keyboard, USB port, microSD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack into its wood-paneling. Feeling spendthrifty? Good, then you can fork over the dough at the source below. Or, if you still need convincing, peep the video after the break and soak up the heavenly choral music.
Joseph Volpe12.01.2011
Apple-1 computer auctioned off for over $211,000; winner in the garage building a case for it
So, that Apple-1 we saw a while back was auctioned off today, for a winning bid of £133,250, or roughly $211,535 -- not bad, considering that the original sale price was (believe it or not!) $666.66. According to the Wall Street Journal, a spokesman for Christie's in London called it "a record for a personal computer sold at auction." Besides the machine itself (with its 8-bit 6502 microprocessor and 8K RAM), the lot included a letter from a certain "Steven Jobs" with his parents' return address. If you happen to be the person who won the auction, we know a guy with a copy of Apple-1 BASIC.
Joseph L. Flatley11.24.2010
The cost of Apple's products, adjusted for inflation
A site called VoucherCodes recently tried to figure out if the $499 entry-level iPad really is as good a deal as many have claimed. They analyzed the cost of several of Apple's products, adjusted for inflation, and some of the results are pretty astonishing. The first Apple computer ever created, the Apple I, cost $666.66 in 1976. Adjusted to 2010 dollars, that Apple I would cost $2,540, which isn't too bad. But the Apple Lisa, Apple's first stab at creating a computer with a Graphical User Interface, cost $9,995 in 1983, or a staggering $21,745 in today's dollars. Sure, the GUI was a cool bit of innovation, over $20,000 for a personal computer? Comparing the iPad to previous Apple portables is even more interesting. Apple's first portable computer cost $6,500 in 1989 -- which would be almost $11,400 today -- while the $699 Newton from 1993 would cost nearly $1,050 in today's dollars. Most intriguing of all is that the first iPod, released for $399 in 2001, cost $488 in today's dollars. That's just $11 under the cost of the iPad, a device that has far more storage, processing power, and access to more features than the first iPod could even dream of only nine and a half years ago. Apple's handhelds are cheaper than ever, even when you bring inflation into the mix. Within my lifetime alone, computers have gone from luxury items and objects of curiosity, something people would have to save several months of paychecks in order to buy, to something people buy on a whim, for a week's pay, and carry around with them in their pockets. It's not surprising that the cost of computers has come down over time, but when charts like the one at VoucherCodes drive home just how much prices have dropped in terms of the real value of the US dollar, it's pretty amazing.
Chris Rawson03.26.2010
Vintage cassette tape holds Apple I BASIC, killer modem tune
Fair warning: this here post is nerdier than usual, and those who begin to feel nauseous at the mere mention of data-bending may want to refrain from continuing on. For you brave, hardened souls that are following through, feast your eyes on the "first piece of software ever sold by Apple." The Apple I BASIC cassette wasn't even included with all of the 200 Apple Is produced eons ago, but a few engineering souls have managed to extract the data and create an MP3 of the wave structure. Not surprisingly, the tone resembles that of a 1200 Baud connection, and if we should say so ourselves, would make for a wicked ringtone. Believe us, it gets even weirder in the read link, but you'll have to determine whether venturing down is something your brain can handle.[Via BoingBoing]
Darren Murph07.19.2008
Apple I cake
Nitrozac and Snaggy, the minds behind the Joy of Tech, sure know how to celebrate a computer company's 30th birthday! In honor of Apple's 30th they baked an Apple I cake, and just like the real Apple I some assembly is required. Check out the directions to make your very own.They also drew a comic featuring this geekily delicious treat.
Scott McNulty03.31.2006