One of the first computers Apple ever sold set to reach £80,000 at auction (not bad considering it only cost £420 to buy)

One of the first Apple computers that company founder Steve Jobs sold from his parents’ garage is expected to reach up to £80,000 at auction - 190 times its original price.

Jobs famously invested all he had to finance the first Apple creation, selling his VW van.

Around 200 original Apple 1s were designed and hand-built by Jobs’ friend and co-founder Steve Wozniak.



It launched in 1976 but few remain.

One of the first Apple computers, the Apple-1, that company founder Steve Jobs sold from his parents' garage. It is set to fetch up to £80,000 at a Christie's auction in central London on October 9th - 190 times its original price.

The £420 Apple 1 did not have a keyboard or monitor, meaning users had to supply their own.

It also had a tiny 8K memory - minuscule by today's standards, where the latest iPad comes with 64Gb of memory.



THE APPLE 1

The Apple founders created the personal computer in 1976 and presented it at a Palo Alto computer club, but there were few takers at the time.

Paul Terrell, owner of a retail chain called Byte Shop, placed an order for 50 of the machines and sold them for $666.66 retail - once Wozniak and Jobs agreed to assemble the circuit boards rather than offer them as kits, Sotheby's said. The pair then produced 150 more and sold them to friends and other vendors.

Fewer than 50 original Apple 1s are believed to survive, with only six known to be in working condition.

However, the Apple 1, the forerunner of the Mac, iPod, iPad and iPhone, has proved a good investment.



The iconic original is on offer at a Christie’s auction in central London on October 9 and comes from the estate of Joe Copson, a former Apple employee.

The rare opportunity to buy an original is expected to attract worldwide interest from museums and private technology collectors.

Christie’s scientific specialist James Hyslop said the computer’s pre-sale estimate reflected a growing interest in early computer technology.

He said: 'This is the computer that started Apple, now recognized as the most valuable company in the world.

'Its significance in making computer technology accessible for all cannot be undervalued.'

Before the Apple 1, anyone wanting a computer had to solder it together themselves.

The Apple-1’s fully assembled motherboard made it ready to use straight from the box - provided the buyer supplied their own keyboard, power supply and display.

Launched in Palo Alto, California, in July 1976, it was priced at $666.66 (£420) - reportedly because Wozniak liked repeating digits.



Jobs sent them direct to buyers from the garage of his parents’ house.



The Apple 1 was the most hi-tech product of its time - but users still had to supply their own case and keyboard

It is not known how many were sold but by April 1977 the price had dropped to $475 (£300).

The computer helped kick-start a technological revolution that brought affordable computers out of science labs and into people’s homes.



The Apple II was introduced in April 1977 with an integrated keyboard, sound, a plastic case, and eight internal expansion slots.



By the time it was discontinued in October 1977, around 200 Apple 1s had been produced.



It is thought that only 30 to 50 of the computers still exist today and there is rarely an opportunity to buy one.



Jobs met Wozniak at high school in the early 1970s.



They decided to set up their own company and create a personal home computer.



Jobs’ talent at marketing and selling Wozniak’s designs helped him turn Apple into a global company.



Earlier this year a rare working Apple 1 computer has been sold at auction in New York for $374,500 to an unidentified bidder, leaving the previous record price of $212,000 in its wake.

One of only two hundred built in 1976 by Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, auction house Sotheby's had previously estimated the iconic Apple 1 would fetch $180,000.