Apple's first computer hand-built by Jobs, Wozniak sells for $400,000 in auction

An original Apple computer hand-built 45 years ago by innovators Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak sold for $400,000 at auction in the United States. When the working Apple-1, the great-great-grandfather of today's elegant chrome-and-glass MacBooks, went under the hammer in California, it was projected to earn up to $600,000 (approximately Rs 4.44 crores). The "Chaffey College" Apple-1 was one of only 200 manufactured by Jobs and Wozniak. It was manufactured at the start of the company's journey from garage start-up to $2 trillion.

The computer's case is made of koa wood, a highly patinated wood native to Hawaii, which adds to its rarity. Jobs and Wozniak primarily marketed Apple-1s as spare components. 

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According to John Moran Auctioneers, the equipment offered alongside a 1986 Panasonic video monitor has only had two owners.The auction website stated that an electronics professor earlier obtained the computer at Chaffey College in California, who later sold it to his student in 1977.  The student, who has not been recognised, paid only $650 for it at the time, according to the Los Angeles Times. While the $400,000 price offers a good return on investment for that former student, it falls well short of the all-time high for such a gadget.

Bonhams sold a working Apple-1 that first appeared on the market in 2014 for more over $900,000. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Apple rocketed to success but faltered when Jobs and Wozniak left. In the late 1990s, tJobs was reinstated as CEO. Before his death in 2011, he supervised the introduction of the iPod and, subsequently, the game-changing iPhone.

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• Apple
• Steve Jobs
• Wozniak