Only 17 months after its release, further development work on Apple’s first computer, the Apple I was discontinued on 30 September 1977. At the time, Apple was already working on Apple II, which was to become a blasting success. Apple II was mainly designed by Steve Wozniak, one of the legendary founders of Apple.

Apple Computer Company was founded in Los Altos, Northern California, on 1 April 1976. The founders were the two Steves, Jobs and Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, who soon left Apple. The company aimed to successfully launch the market release of their machines, which, of course, bore no serial numbers at the time. Three months later Apple I was introduced in commercial sale at a price of 666 US dollars and 66 cents (roughly 2600 dollars today).

The first Apple computer was less than a personal computer today by consisting of a motherboard and components (processor, memory, etc.) only. Instead of a monitor, the computer could be connected to a television set that functioned as a screen. Since most machines at the time did not have a display peripheral at all, using a television set as a screen was a major innovation. Apple I had no power supply, a cover or a keyboard. Cassette recorders and audio cassettes could be used to store, load and save programmes. Despite its many deficiencies, even the first Apple was considered user-friendly: it was easy to boot up and operate. Apple I consisted of fewer components than other computers at the time, but it worked just as well or even better than its rivals. People who purchased it needed nothing else than a television set and a keyboard as external hardware.

Altogether 200 units of Apple I were manufactured. The machines, now rarities in IT history, were assembled by hand (partly by the founders). Substantial interest is expressed for the machines at auctions even today. In 1999 one model was auctioned and sold for 50 thousand US dollars, another computer, in original packaging and with an accompanying letter written and signed by Steve Jobs, was sold for 210 thousand US dollars in 2010. A German auction house sold a vintage model for 500 thousand Euros (650 thousand US dollars) in 2012. Today there are about 50 machines left, but only six of them can still work.