Operational Apple-1 Computer for sale [video]
youtube.com
youtube.com
The video is designed to appeal to nerd nostalgia. However it has problems right from the start when it emphasizes Jobs not Woz (the true nerd hero), including a stylized ascii art.
According to the video, this item is exceptional because it’s fully operational. However paradoxically that’s because it’s never been used. The video praises the owner who bought it and stuck it in a closet, never turning it on. It implicitly puts down the actual users who actually used the machine (burning the paint) and especially those who tinkered with and modifying the machine.
As someone who grew up in the 80s hacking my Apple II+ doing everything from playing Lemonade Stand to building custom coprocessor boards, I salute those who actually used their Apple machines to the max, destroying the collector value.
I rewatched it: https://youtu.be/XdBKuBhdZwg?si=nywGYWzsB5HmW2AB&t=184
Woz appears first, then Jobs shortly, then the Apple logo. Arguably Woz's face even appears slightly longer because there's a short pause whereas Jobs just flies by to the Apple logo.
Later there's both "Woz and Jobs holding Apple I".
The video description explicitly calls out "The Steve Wozniak-designed computer".
The by-name callouts in the video are:
- "hand-built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak"
- "in Steve Job's mom's garage."
- Jobs acting as a salesman
I'm not really sure how Jobs is emphasised at all.
I think mostly I was annoyed at the emphasis on how the computer is untouched and unused, which seemed the antithesis of the spirit of those early days.
Having said all that, I really felt an urge to bid, though no doubt it's 10x what I can afford.
From what it looks like, the difficulty shouldn't be in getting a board made or soldering them, but sourcing the parts. Other than the odd 74 series ICs, the design includes some (I think memory?) chips that are nowadays more difficult to find than the 6502 & 6520.
I’d guess she is planning on making a market for this early Apple gear based on the video. Will the auction result pay for the video? Probably not, but they get to set the market price and be the auction house of record for this going forward, and that could be quite valuable.
Sothebys will be paid in multiples of what that video cost to make. How did you come up with opposite ? Most auction houses take 10- 30 % of price. So youre saying that this computer will cost less than 30k at final price ?
Also, Apple Computer was founded in 1976. But there were already "home" / personal computers sold from other companies for half of decade already. Or you can say that Apple employees did not built Apple-1 computer with already available intel 8008 CPU. Apple employees at that time were not innovators, they were marketers and solder monkeys.
Yes wikipedia is edited by public, and it is confusing on purpose. Apple has billions of dollars, so marketing department got paid to increase confusion on wikipedia articles for all apple products.
By charting computer history on timeline, you can see Apple-1 computer was nothing exceptional. It was just another random kit.
Apples push to sell to gullible teachers was toxic marketing strategy, which worked. So peoples exposed to this brand of computers in schools had emotional attachment to this brand. Yes apple targeted children. Not in China, in USA.
> Estimate: 400000-600000 USD
> Current Bid: 350000 USD
Apple 1 sold for $666.66 in 1976, which is ~$3766 today after inflation, so ~900x increase in value.
For comparison, AAPL stock went public in 1980-12-12 at $22 per share. Adjusting for 5 splits, the initial IPO price was $0.10. It's at $210.86 today.
Those electrolytic capacitors will eventually need replacing. At that point you have to ask yourself if the value will be diminished more by replacing them (with as close to a vintage cap as you can find) to keep it running, or by letting it become nonoperational.
What I will say that if Apple is what Woz feared. Then what's OpenAI and X/Grok and Google and Facebook (hell bench on world domination)? Unimaginable?
Chorus They are all the same! Chorus
Apple helped create the black rectangle monolith appliances-in-a-smartphone plague. But they are not even in the top 10 list of companies I'm currently worried about. They are far more embarrassing than dangerous as of late.
Apple is privacy focused because it's a lifestyle and tech fashion company that competes with internet data brokers. Apple's instincts for monopoly power, locking down the market and choking life out of their complements is second to none.
Given the opportunity, all successful tech CEOs are bred and selected to burn the world down if the result is aligned to their power goals.
Based on historical records, the evidence suggests that only less than 150 to 200 Apple-1 computers were ever made and the assembly team was Wozniak who did most technical assembly, with help from Daniel Kottke, Patty Jobs (Steve's sister), and occasional friends.
Also....the actual video title is: "The Finest Operational Apple-1 Computer in Existence - Handmade by Steve Jobs - Is Now at Sotheby's" an even more wild claim. Then editorialized here to be called in the title of this submission: " Apple-1 Computer, handmade by Jobs and Woz"
The video has low credibility, and changing the title wont change that.
Jobs role has always been reported as business/sales focused rather than hands-on assembly.
[And literally almost physically colliding into Tim Cook in Los Altos where Garage Technology Ventures used to be.]
[If you need someone important ran into accidentally, I guess that's about my only natural talent.]