First Apple computer expected to fetch $180,000 at Sotheby's auction

By Agence France-Presse | Updated: 9 June 2012 14:17 IST

There's no screen, it was built in 1976, and the clunky design does not exactly recall today's iPads, but the first Apple computer is expected to fetch up to $180,000 in New York.

Sotheby's in New York is auctioning the rare piece of computer history, which actually still works, on June 15.

The Apple I computer was designed and hand-built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and marketed by Steve Jobs at the birth of Jobs's career as the world's computer design guru.

Sotheby's called the computer "an exceptionally rare, working example with original Apple cassette interface, operation manuals and a rare BASIC Users' Manual."

"As the first ready-made personal computer, the Apple I signaled a new age in which computing became accessible to the masses," Sotheby's said.

The computer first went on sale in July 1976 for $666.66.