Original Apple computer sets a record sale

One of the original Apple computers, handmade by Steve Wozniak in the garage of Steve Jobs' parents, was sold on Friday for 374,500 dollars. The predicted price was between 120,000 dollars and 180,000 dollars.

The winning bid set a new record for the collector's item, with a previous auction for an Apple 1 bringing a winning bid of 210,000 dollars.

The computers first went on sale in 1976 for 666.66 dollars and are generally considered to be the first personal computers to be offered to the public.

Prior to that, users could buy kits containing the transistors and chips to build their own computers, but the Apple 1 was the first fully constructed circuit board. Users still had to supply their own cases, keyboards, video monitors and power supplies.

The device that sold to an unnamed bidder Friday is one of only a handful still in working condition.

The sale included the original manuals as well as a cassette interface that was used to store programmes and data.

Apple stopped selling the device in October 1977, six months after the introduction of the far more advanced Apple II.DPA

Some 50 of the 200 Apple 1 computers ever made are still known to be in existence.

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Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.

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