(Germany – February 10, 2022) Two forensic examinations of the handwritten serial number on the back of some Apple-1s were carried out in 2021/22 using two original Apple-1s.
Both times the result was clear: it is the handwriting of Steve Jobs. Another legacy of Steve Jobs.
The story was a small sensation, and hundreds of newspapers, blogs, etc. reported on this in 2022.
In 2022, a family contacted the Apple-1 Registry. The (grand)father of the three family members had passed away, and he had owned an Apple-1.
As it turned out, it was the most unusual and, from a historical point of view, the most interesting original Apple-1 (except for the prototypes, of course).
This Apple-1 was given as a bare board by Steve Jobs to Homebrew Computer Club member James J. Scardino. Woz gave James instructions for building the Apple-1.
In 2018, a German industrialist contacted Achim Baqué (Apple-1 Registry). His name is Peter Vizenetz. He claimed to have information and a story regarding Apple-1 computers. There were several phone conversations, and Mr. Vizenetz recorded a 24-minute interview (in German) for Achim Baqué.
The entire story of the first Apple-1 in Europe is included.
In 2021, another contact with an owner of an original Apple-1 computer helped put the pieces of the puzzle together. In 2022, it was time to publish the news.
Before the Apple-1, there was an 'Apple Computer A'. Press release.
Paul Terrell (founder of the Byte Shop) recently gave Achim Baqué (curator of the Apple-1 Registry, a list of all Apple-1 computers) some information. Thanks to Paul’s support and his Polaroids of an early Apple-1, it was a great surprise to zoom into the pictures from 1976. The photos were taken when Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs first showed the Apple-1 to Paul at the Byte Shop. The Polaroids had already been published in low resolution, but some characteristics had not been noticed until now.
It was not easy to get even a tiny bit of information about the production prototype. Achim Baqué asked Woz, Wendell Sander, Bill Fernandez, Chris Espinosa, Daniel Kottke, and Paul Terrell about the production prototype and received answers from all of them. However, not all open questions could be clarified. Howard Cantin, the designer of the Apple-1 mainboard, might have some answers. Unfortunately, it was not possible to get in touch with him.
Confirming various assumptions took time and required a lot of research. No one remembers the prototype. We have only a few pictures.
In the left center of all Apple-1 boards is the text “Apple Computer 1”. However, the prototype reads "Apple Computer A © 76". This might have been done to mark it as a prototype, or perhaps the plan was to name the final version that way? Woz doesn't remember why the name was changed.
Now that the mystery of the handwritten number is solved, I will continue searching for information about the prototypes. Over the past years, I have already tried to collect all available information, but not much is known. Steve Wozniak mentioned a fire in his garage, and perhaps the prototype(s) were lost in that fire. That would have been a terrible loss.
This is an Apple-1 prototype with a different board layout than the later final production series. It was previously known that there were some differences. Thanks to the detailed pictures by Paul Terrell, it is now clear that there are many differences. Some traces are different. There is only a very small jumper section in the middle (above the IC 74154). The small capacitors are the same ones used for the 2nd batch. And so on. Unfortunately, only the front side is known/visible.
The Apple-1 prototype includes all the extra components for the 6800/6501 CPU instead of the 6502. Woz was sent a photo of the circuit board by the Apple-1 Registry in early 2012 and commented on the production prototype: “This Apple I below was probably about the first Apple I on an Apple PC board. I had left the 6800 space because it was needed for the $20 6501 instead of the $25 6502. The difference was strong clock driver transistors. Paul Terrell may well have gotten a sort-of prototype since his order is really the reason we built Apple I’s with parts installed. We built a couple with the 6501 but by real production time we could get the 6502 for the same cost.” According to this, the prototype was built with a 6501 CPU. For a 6501, you need the same additional components as for the 6800 CPU. The Woz monitor in the PROMs works without modification. The fact that Paul Terrell was shown a prototype aligns with the book *Little Kingdom* by Michael Moritz.
Achim Baqué will continue to search for information about the prototypes. In recent years, he collected everything he could, but little is known. Steve Wozniak mentioned a fire in his garage, and perhaps the prototype(s) were in that garage. That would have been a terrible loss. There is a chance that the prototypes still exist. Achim Baqué has some clues about their whereabouts, but nothing certain.
In every story about the first Apple computer, Woz bought the 6502 and built the Apple-1 around it—not the 6501 CPU. But at least for the production prototype, it was the MOS 6501 CPU.
Update July 2022: Just weeks after publishing on the registry, blogs, and newspapers what is known about the 'Apple Computer A', it showed up at auction.
Update August 2022: It was sold for US$ 677,196.
It is most likely due to erroneous reporting in blogs and newspapers that the prototype was not auctioned off for far more than a million US$. It started with a reporter who asked Woz about the prototype. Since this reporter clearly had little knowledge of Apple-1 computers and prototypes, he asked Woz about the hand-soldered prototype. However, that is a completely different prototype.
The prototype that was auctioned was the one that was industrially manufactured. Woz made corrections to this prototype by hand-soldering. Laypeople and that reporter confused the production prototype with the hand-soldered one. And so, doubts began to spread.
Many blogs picked up the supposed story in the eternal chase for clicks or, as usual, copied the text 1:1. And, unfortunately as usual, without verifying or researching anything. It was the victory of those who know nothing but like to have an opinion on everything. For those involved in the field, it was terrible to see such a historical object being misrepresented.
It is the first production prototype of the most valuable company in the world. That alone should be enough to recognize its historical significance.
For years it was unknown who built the Byte Shop cases made of Koa wood. Next came the theory that Randy Wigginton's father built them. Randy was Apple employee #6.
Because of my (Achim Baqué) conversation with Randy Wigginton, it became clear that Randy's brother, Ralph Wigginton, built the cases. In March 2022, Achim had contact with Ralph and Randy. There are some surprising facts about the cases. Unfortunately, false information about the cases was spread further and further because apparently nobody wanted to verify it. Too often a text is simply copied and accepted as true just because someone wrote it at some point. Fortunately, contemporary witnesses do exist, and with a little effort, you can get closer to the true events.
Here is a summary of information from various e-mail correspondences, personal and telephone conversations. Among others, the Wigginton brothers, Steve Wozniak, and Paul Terrell were interviewed, as well as many other people who unfortunately had no information about the cases.
For years, it was unknown who built the Byte Shop cases made of Koa wood. Next came the theory that Randy Wigginton's father built them. Randy was Apple employee #6.
Because of my (Achim Baqué) conversation with Randy Wigginton, it became clear that Randy's brother, Ralph Wigginton, built the cases. In March 2022, Achim had contact with Ralph and Randy. There are some surprising facts about the cases. Unfortunately, false information about the cases was spread further and further because apparently nobody wanted to verify it. Too often, a text is simply copied and accepted as true just because someone wrote it at some point. Fortunately, contemporary witnesses do exist, and with a little effort, you can get closer to the true events.
Here is a summary of information from various e-mail correspondences, personal and telephone conversations. Among others, the Wigginton brothers, Steve Wozniak, and Paul Terrell were interviewed, as well as many other people who unfortunately had no information about the cases.
He was and will always be a part of Apple history. His contributions to Apple were the first logo and the contract. Maybe everyone would have sold all their Apple shares like he did. Who could have expected that this company would be successful? It was against all odds.
Many people can’t understand why he sold everything, but it makes total sense. Today, it is easy to say it is worth billions. But it’s the same with the stock market—everyone is always smarter in hindsight. You never know if it is wise to sell or not.
Ron Wayne generously allowed me to publish his explanation (remember: for any reprint or reproduction, you need the permission of Ron Wayne and the Apple-1 Registry. But you can link to this story without permission):
He told the Apple-1 Registry: "I have an HP65 calculator that was once owned by Steve Wozniak.
It was given to me in the late 80s by a friend who had gotten it from another friend that did a lot of work in the Bay Area. The “official story” is that Woz, at the time working for the calculator division at HP, sold his HP65 to finance building the Apple-1. The story I heard back then was that Woz was sneaking out parts from HP, assembling the calculators, and giving them to his friends. I don’t know what the truth is, but that’s the story I got with my HP65. It has S. Wozniak (and other things) scratched inside. No, I don’t want to sell it."
According to Steve Wozniak's autobiography iWoz, he sold his HP 65 calculator for US$500 to buy the Apple-1 mainboards. And Steve Jobs sold his VW bus for US$750. [1] They needed US$1,000 to get a computer company to print the boards. Reference iWoz, Chapter 12, page 173:
"To come up with the $1,000 we thought we’d need … I sold my HP 65 calculator for $500. The guy who bought it only paid me half though, and never paid me the rest. I didn’t feel too bad because I knew HP’s next-generation calculator, the HP 67, was coming out in a month and would cost me only $370 with the employee discount.
And Steve sold his VW van for another few hundred dollars. He figured he could ride around on his bicycle if he had to. That was it. We were in business."
[1] Other sources claim it was a different vehicle.
The story goes that Steve Jobs sold his VW bus to finance building the Apple-1. Some people argue that he owned a Volvo. Anyway, Steve Jobs definitely owned a VW bus. He liked the car because his best friend and high school buddy owned a 1964 VW bus (see picture). Both had a lot of fun driving around California, for example, to the beach in Santa Cruz. This ’64 VW bus still existed in 2019. The curator of the Apple-1 Registry had a chance to sit in this bus and drive around with the owner. The owner had many stories to tell and some pictures to show. Steve Jobs and he are in the same high school yearbook; Steve Jobs wrote personal letters to him, etc.! Both were friends until Steve Jobs passed away. Steve Jobs gave him two Apple-1 computers in the 70s, including other items. A wonderful picture shows the owner, Steve Jobs, and Bill Clinton.
According to Steve Wozniak's autobiography iWoz, he sold his HP 65 calculator for US$500 to buy the Apple-1 mainboards. And Steve Jobs sold his VW bus for US$750. They needed US$1,000 to get a computer company to print the boards. Reference iWoz, Chapter 12, page 173:
"To come up with the $1,000 we thought we’d need … I sold my HP 65 calculator for $500. The guy who bought it only paid me half though, and never paid me the rest. I didn’t feel too bad because I knew HP’s next-generation calculator, the HP 67, was coming out in a month and would cost me only $370 with the employee discount.
And Steve sold his VW van for another few hundred dollars. He figured he could ride around on his bicycle if he had to. That was it. We were in business."
Besides this fact, some people believe Steve Jobs sold his Volvo. According to a friend of Steve Jobs, he owned both a VW bus and a Volvo. Steve Jobs drove with Daniel Kottke in this green Volvo to deliver the Apple-1 computer to the Byte Shop.
Pamela Lawson, the daughter of Don Hutmacher, wrote in 2015: 'Don Hutmacher worked for Apple at their headquarters in Cupertino. He was a manufacturing engineer and worked on many projects from 1980 to 1990. When Steve Jobs was let go from Apple in the mid-80s, Don was allowed by his boss to go into Steve Jobs' office to take anything that was left over. It had been picked clean by the time he got there. He noticed a computer and a bag of Starbucks coffee. The computer was the Apple-1 in a custom metallic case.
It bears a tag with the initials BF (Bill Fernandez), 5-APR-1977, ACM Mod., and the number 2.'
Wendell Sander added: 'Wow, I always wondered where this Apple-1 went. When I got there in August of 1977, this was the “Company Apple-1.” I used it several times in 1977 and 1978, mostly to demo the Apple-1 to others. I was the Apple-1 expert because I had one. I think Bill and I were the only ones that used it. I had assumed it ended up at Stanford [1] with the other Apple stuff.
The ACM mod would have been for Mike Markkula; his initials are ACM. I am almost certain the mod was to put BASIC in EPROM. I seem to remember that, but Bill can probably verify if that is correct. That is a pretty special Apple-1 because it was the “official” company computer. The case is particularly impressive and the only one like it I know of. It looks like a metal version of the wood cases. Feel free to pass along these comments.'
Bill Fernandez told me on March 8, 2020: 'I don't have any pictures or memory of this particular computer. By this time, I would have been working in the garage for about 2 months. "ACM" most likely refers to Mike Markkula. I was probably tasked with modifying the Apple-1 in some way for Mike's use, and this was probably the second one modified in this way.'
[1] This Apple-1 was sold at auction to Paul Allen and is in his museum in Seattle, USA.
It is not directly linked to the Apple-1 but is pretty interesting. Steve Jobs' handwritten and signed job application from 1973 is very unique.
In the questionnaire, Steve Jobs highlights his experience with “computers and calculators” and special abilities in “electronic tech or design engineer – digital.”
The questionnaire is believed to have been completed around the time he dropped out of Reed College in Portland, Oregon.
A year later, he joined Atari as a technician, where he worked with Steve Wozniak before they founded Apple in 1976.
Other interesting aspects of the one-page questionnaire are that Jobs notes he does not have a phone number and has a driving license but access to transportation is “possible, but not probable” (sic).
The first auction was in 2018 (over US$175,000). The second, from charterfields.com, started February 24, 2021 (Jobs' 65th birthday) and ended in March 2021 with a result of US$222,400. Image with kind permission of auction house Charterfields in London, UK.
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January 2018 I had a conversation with Apple co-founder 
