What was the first gadget Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak ever manufactured and sold? No, we’re not talking about the Apple-1, but rather the “blue box,” a device which allowed users to make free long-distance phone calls by reproducing specific dial tones.
One such device is up for auction this month, where it is expected to sell for upwards of $67,400. That’s roughly 67 brand new iPhone X handsets if you want to do the math!
Only 40-100 blue boxes were ever made, and this is thought to be the first offered at auction. It’s a significant item in Apple history because — while Jobs later turned his back on his law-breaking ways — he said that, “If we hadn’t made those little blue boxes, there might never have been an Apple computer.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxCNvNwl60s
An auction estimate of $67,400 may actually be pretty good value, too. The current record price for an Apple-1 was set in 2014 at a Bonhams History of Science auction in New York City, and fetched a whopping $910,000.
The blue box is a less sought-after item than the Apple-1, since it lacks to the distinction of being Apple’s first computer, but it’s also the first solo commercial venture of Jobs and Wozniak — which should arguably carry more of a premium than $67k.
The Bonhams auction will take place in New York on December 6. Better start saving!
Source: Daily Mail
