A humble-looking device that is credited with starting the digital revolution has emerged 45 years later to reveal Apple's fraudulent beginnings.

The ground-breaking digital blue box was developed by Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak in 1972 and was the inventor's first printed circuit board.

But the box was actually a hacking device that fooled a phone company's switchboard by reproducing its specific tones.

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A humble-looking device that is credited with starting the digital revolution has emerged 45 years later to reveal Apple's fraudulent beginnings. The digital blue box was developed by Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak in 1972 and was the inventor's first printed circuit board

WHAT WAS THE DIGITAL 'BLUE BOX'? The digital blue box was developed by Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak in 1972 and was the inventor's first printed circuit board. It was used with a keypad tethered to an ear piece. It fooled a phone company's switchboard by reproducing its specific tones. As a result, the user was able to get free overseas phone calls in an era when making a long-distance call was hugely expensive. Between 40 and 100 blue boxes were ever made and this is the first one to be offered for sale. It is expected to sell for $67,400 (£50,000). Advertisement

As a result, the user was able to get free overseas phone calls in an era when making a long-distance call was hugely expensive.

Steve Jobs was quick to recognise the opportunity and came up with a plan to market the blue box to university students in California who were eager to make free phone calls.

The device, which was used with a keypad tethered to an ear piece, helped Wozniak and Jobs go on to produce the first ever Apple 1 computer four years later.

It has now been consigned for auction by the brother of a student who went to university with Wozniak and helped with the distribution side of the business.

Between 40 and 100 blue boxes were ever made and this is the first one to be offered for sale. It is expected to sell for $67,400 (£50,000).

Darren Sutherland, a specialist at auctioneers Bonhams in New York, said: 'This blue box marked the beginning of one of the most important collaborations in the history of science and technology.

'Apple changed the way we live.

'This was Wozniak's first circuit board and it was only a niche and illicit object so very few were made.

The box was actually a hacking device that fooled a phone company's switchboard by reproducing its specific tones

As a result of the homemade circuitry, the user was able to get free overseas phone calls in an era when making a long-distance call was hugely expensive

'This is the first blue box to be offered for sale.'

At the time he made it, Wozniak was a student at the University of California while Jobs was still in high school.

Wozniak once said that despite the illicit nature of the box he was very proud of the invention.

The late Jobs also famously said that if it hadn't been for the blue boxes, there wouldn't have been Apple.

The auction takes place in New York on December 6.

At the time he made it, Steve Wozniak was a student at the University of California while Jobs was still in high school. Wozniak once said that despite the illicit nature of the box he was very proud of the invention