Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Working Apple 1 Computer Sells for Record Auction Price of $671,400
The New York Times reports that a working Apple 1 computer has sold at auction in Germany for a record $671,400, breaking the previous mark of $640,000 set last November at the same auction house. That November record has eclipsed an earlier record of $375,000 set less than six months earlier.
The Apple 1, one of only a handful working units remaining in existence, carries the signature of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and was originally owned by Major League Baseball player Fred Hatfield. The auction included a letter from Steve Jobs to Hatfield offering a trade-in deal on an Apple II board, an offer Hatfield declined for unknown reasons. The identity of the owner who put the item up for auction has not been disclosed.
Update: The New York Times now notes that the Fred Hatfield who was the original owner of the machine was not the former Major League Baseball player and instead was a New Orleans resident who sold the machine in non-working condition to a private buyer for $40,000 earlier this year. The buyer repaired the machine and flew to California to have it signed by Wozniak before placing it up for auction.
The high prices paid for the machines seem to be explained by the combination of scarcity, a fascination with the early history of the computer age, and the mystique of Apple and its founders, Steven P. Jobs and Stephen G. Wozniak. And some irrational exuberance in the prices, for a machine that can do very little and originally sold for $666 (about $2,700 in current dollars).
“This really confirms the value of Apple-1’s,” Uwe Breker, the German auctioneer, said in an interview on Saturday.
The buyer, Mr. Breker said, was a wealthy entrepreneur from the Far East, who wishes to remain anonymous.
The Apple 1, one of only a handful working units remaining in existence, carries the signature of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and was originally owned by Major League Baseball player Fred Hatfield. The auction included a letter from Steve Jobs to Hatfield offering a trade-in deal on an Apple II board, an offer Hatfield declined for unknown reasons. The identity of the owner who put the item up for auction has not been disclosed.
Update: The New York Times now notes that the Fred Hatfield who was the original owner of the machine was not the former Major League Baseball player and instead was a New Orleans resident who sold the machine in non-working condition to a private buyer for $40,000 earlier this year. The buyer repaired the machine and flew to California to have it signed by Wozniak before placing it up for auction.
[ 151 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
(View all)
77 months ago
That's almost a $1 million. Pretty crazy. That computer could buy me a couple of nice cars! :D
I like your math. I'll give you $650 and you give me $1000 back. $650 is almost $1000...no?;):D
77 months ago
...working Apple 1 computer[/url] has sold at auction in Germany for a record $671,400
It would have been $666,666 in keeping with tradition if the buyer hadn't let the auctioneer persuade him he needed the Monster RS232 cable...
77 months ago
That's almost a $1 million. Pretty crazy. That computer could buy me a couple of nice cars! :D
not really
77 months ago
That's almost a $1 million. Pretty crazy. That computer could buy me a couple of nice cars! :D
Nice math
77 months ago
Macs have always been expensive, but this is ridiculous, that's it, I'm getting a linux PC! It doesn't even run Mountain Lion! :p
It's not a Mac.
It is an Apple computer. I'm not sure if it was ever really called an Apple 1 computer, just like the very first Macintosh is just called Macintosh and nothing else, the first iPod is called iPod and nothing else, the first Pentium processor was called Pentium and nothing else.
Had they bought this a few years ago, when Apple was on its way up, it would have been a good investment. But now? While Apple's cache is fading? Not so much.
Apple's cache is fading? What cache are you talking about? The cache in my MBP seems to be working just fine, not "fading" at all if you explain what it would mean for a cache to be "fading".
77 months ago
Very few people with that kind of money actually "worked" for it. It's usually 90% luck.
Strange because my experience is when people make such statements , its usually 90% jealousy.
[ Read All Comments ]
Last year, we shared a list of some of the best HomeKit products you can buy, which was quite popular with MacRumors readers, so we thought we'd follow it up.
In our 2019 HomeKit video,...
Amazon is discounting the 2019 AirPods with Charging Case to $139.99, down from $159.00. Apple just refreshed the AirPods last month with an updated H1 chip and "Hey Siri" support,...
As part of its ongoing effort to rebuild Apple Maps, Apple has added detailed terrain features to the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico as well as the southern portion of Nevada, including the...
Tik Tok, which was pulled from the App Store in India last week to comply with a government demand to block downloads over child safety concerns, is allowed to return to the App Store, reports...
Amazon is currently discounting the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar to a new all-time-low price. Specifically, this is the 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 model with 8GB RAM and a 512GB...
Over four years after debuting on Android, and following a significant redesign last year, Google Fit is now available on iOS.
The fitness tracking app can track workout sessions completed...
Following a flash sale on Easter, Best Buy has returned this week with a new 4-day sale that offers discounts on the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, iPhone X, Beats products, iPhone cases, and more. The...
iPhone XR remained the best-selling iPhone model in the United States in the first quarter of 2019, as it was in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a survey conducted by research firm CIRP and...
