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![A large, rectangular circuit board with mostly uniform chips arranged neatly in a grid. The rows are labeled A through D and the columns are numbered 1 to 18. Printed between rows of chips is the text, "Apple Computer 1", "Palo Alto, [California] Copyright 1976". There are three large cylindrical capacitors laying sideways in the corner. The board is sprinkled with small components including ceramic resistors and jumper wires.](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCopsonApple1_2k_cropped.jpg) | |
| Also known as | Apple I, Apple-1 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Steve Wozniak |
| Manufacturer | Apple Computer Company |
| Type | Motherboard-onlypersonal computerkit |
| Release date | July 1976; 49 years ago (1976-07) |
| Introductory price | $666.66 (equivalent to $3,700 in 2024)[1] |
| Discontinued | September 30, 1977; 48 years ago (1977-09-30) |
| Units sold | c. 175 to 200 |
| Operating system | Customsystem monitor[2] |
| CPU | MOS 6502 @1 MHz |
| Memory | 4 or 8KB[3] |
| Storage | 256BROM[2] |
| Removable storage | Cassette tape |
| Graphics | 40×24 characters, hardware-implemented scrolling (Signetics 2513 "64×8×5 Character Generator"[4]) |
| Marketing target | Early hobbyist |
| Successor | Apple II |
TheApple Computer 1 (Apple-1[a]), later known predominantly as theApple I (written with a Roman numeral),[b] is an8-bitpersonal computer electrically designed bySteve Wozniak[5][6] and released by the Apple Computer Company (nowApple Inc.) in 1976. The company was initially formed to sell the Apple I – its first product – and would later become theworld's largest technology company.[7] The idea of starting a company and selling the computer came from Wozniak's friend and Apple co-founderSteve Jobs.[8][9]
The key differentiator of the Apple I was that it includedvideo display terminal circuitry, allowing it to connect to a low-costcomposite video monitor and keyboard instead of an expensive accompanyingterminal such as theTeletype Model 33 commonly used by other early personal computers. The Apple I and theSol-20 were some of the earliest home computers to have this capability.
To finance the Apple I's development, Wozniak and Jobs sold some of their possessions for a few hundred dollars.[10] Wozniak demonstrated the first prototype in July 1976 at theHomebrew Computer Club inPalo Alto, California, impressing theByte Shop, an early computer retailer.[11] After securing an order for 50 computers, Jobs was able to order the parts on credit and deliver the first Apple products after ten days.[12]
The Apple I was one of the first computers available that used theMOS Technology 6502 microprocessor. An expansion included aBASIC interpreter, allowing users to utilizeBASIC at home instead of at institutions with mainframe computers, greatly lowering the entry cost for computing with BASIC.
Production was discontinued on September 30, 1977, after the June 10, 1977 introduction of its successor, theApple II, whichByte magazine referred to as part of the "1977 Trinity" of personal computing (along with thePET 2001 fromCommodore Business Machines and theTRS-80 Model I fromTandy Corporation).[13] As relatively few computers were made before they were discontinued, coupled with their status as Apple's first product, surviving Apple I units are now displayed incomputer museums.[14]
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In 1974, while visiting famousphone phreakJohn Draper inCalifornia, Steve Wozniak watched him connect amodem to theARPANET – the precursor to theinternet – and use ateleprinter to play chess with someone fromBoston; this inspired him to make a cheap terminal that used an inexpensive keyboard fromSears and a standardTV.[16] Later in March 1975, Wozniak started attending meetings of theHomebrew Computer Club, which was a major source of inspiration for him.[17][18][19] Newmicrocomputers such as theAltair 8800 inspired Wozniak to build a microprocessor into his video terminal circuit to make a complete computer.[20] At the time the only appropriate CPUs available were theIntel 8080 and theMotorola 6800. Of these options, Wozniak preferred the 6800, though he was financially unable to obtain either. Instead, he began designing computers on paper until he could afford a CPU.[21]
When the $25MOS Technology 6502 was released in late 1975,[c] Wozniak wrote a version ofBASIC for it, then began to design a computer for it to run on. The 6502 was developed by many of the same engineers that designed the 6800, as many in Silicon Valley left employers to form their own companies. Wozniak's earlier 6800 computer design needed only minor changes to run on the new processor.
By March 1, 1976, Wozniak completed the basic design of his computer.[22][23] Wozniak originally offered the design toHP while working there, but it was rejected by the company on five occasions.[24] When he demonstrated his computer at the Homebrew Computer Club, his friend and fellow club regularSteve Jobs was immediately interested in its commercial potential.[25] Wozniak intended to share schematics of the machine for free; however, Jobs advised him to start a business together and sell bareprinted circuit boards (PCBs) for the computer, without any components soldered on.[26][27][28] Wozniak, at first skeptical, was later convinced by Jobs that even if they were not successful they could at least say to their grandchildren that they had had their own company. To raise the money they needed to build the first batch of the circuit boards, Wozniak sold hisHP-65 scientific calculator while Jobs sold hisVolkswagen van.[26][27]
| External images | |
|---|---|
 Byte Shop storefront | |
| The prototype shown to Terrell | |
| Wozniak and Jobs with an Apple I |
After the company was formed a month later, Jobs and Wozniak gave a presentation of the fully assembled "Apple Computer A" at the Homebrew Computer Club.[29][30][31]Paul Terrell, who was starting a new computer shop inMountain View, California, called theByte Shop,[32] saw the presentation and was impressed by the machine.[33][34] Terrell told Jobs that he would order 50 units of the Apple I and pay $500 each[d] on delivery, but only if they came fully assembled – he was not interested in buying bare printed circuit boards with no components.[35][33][36][35][34]
Wozniak had designed the electrical circuit, but the board design for the Apple 1 was done by Howard Cantin, a PCB layout engineer at Atari.[37][38]
Jobs took the purchase order from the Byte Shop to national electronic parts distributorCramer Electronics, and ordered the components needed. When asked by the credit manager how he would pay for the parts, Jobs replied, "I have this purchase order from the Byte Shop chain of computer stores for 50 of my computers and the payment terms areCOD. If you give me the parts onnet 30-day terms I can build and deliver the computers in that time frame, collect my money from Terrell at the Byte Shop and pay you."[12][39]
To verify the purchase order, the credit manager called Paul Terrell, who assured him if the computers showed up, Jobs would have more than enough money for the parts order. The two Steves and their small crew spent day and night building and testing the computers, and delivered to Terrell on time. Terrell was surprised to receive a batch of assembled circuit boards, as he had expected complete computers with a case, monitor and keyboard.[40][41] Nonetheless, he kept his word and paid the two Steves the money promised.[42][40][41][43]
The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 at a price ofUS$666.66.[e] Wozniak later said he had no idea about the relation between the number and thenumber of the beast, and that he came up with the price because he liked "repeating digits"[42][44] and because it was a one-third markup on the$500 wholesale price.[45] Jobs had managed to get the inventory into the nation's first four storefront microcomputer retailers: Byte Shop (Palo Alto, California), itty bitty machine company (Evanston, Illinois), Data Domain (Bloomington, Indiana), and Computer Mart (New York City).[46]
The first unit produced was used in a high school math class, and donated toLiza Loop's public-access computer center.[47] About 200 units were produced, and all but 25 were sold within nine or ten months.[39]
In April 1977, the price was dropped to $475.[f][3] It continued to be sold through August 1977, despite the introduction of theApple II in April 1977, which began shipping in June of that year.[48] In October 1977, the Apple I was officially discontinued and removed from Apple's price list.[49] As Wozniak was the only person who could answer most customer support questions about the computer, the company offered Apple I owners discounts and trade-ins for Apple IIs to persuade them to return their computers.[50] These recovered boards were then destroyed by Apple, contributing to their later rarity.[51]
Both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak have stated that Apple did not assign serial numbers to the Apple l. Several boards have been found with numbered stickers affixed to them, which appear to be inspection stickers from the PCB manufacturer/assembler. A batch of boards is known to have numbers hand-written in black permanent marker on the back; these usually appear as "01-00##". As of January 2022, 29 Apple-1s with a serial number are known. The highest known number is 01–0079. Two original Apple-1s have been analyzed byProfessional Sports Authenticator in Los Angeles, concluding that the serial numbers had been hand-written by Steve Jobs.[52]
The Apple I used aMOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at1.022727 MHz, and its design was based largely on Wozniak's previous work centered around aMotorola 6800.[53] The unconventional clock speed was chosen to be a fraction (2⁄7) of theNTSC color carrier, which simplified video circuitry.4 KB of memory was included on the base machine, which was expandable to8 KB on-board and up to64 KB by using an add-on card. On-board memory utilized newly available 4KbitDRAM chips, and was designed to be upgradeable to the next generation of 16Kbit chips for a maximum of32 KB on-board memory.[54] An optional $75 plug-in cassette interface card allowed users to store programs on ordinary audiocassette tapes. ABASIC interpreter, originally written by Wozniak, was provided with the cassette interface that let users easily write programs and play simple games. An onboard AC power supply was included.
The Apple I did not come with a case. It could be used bare, although some users chose to build custom (typically wooden) enclosures.[55]
| Address | Size | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0000 - 0x0023 | 36 Bytes | RAM | 4K systems (minimal system, cannot loadwozbasic) |
| 0x0024 - 0x002B | 8 Bytes | wozmon variables | |
| 0x002C - 0x00FF | 212 Bytes | RAM | |
| 0x0100 - 0x01FF | 256 Bytes | 6502 processor stack | |
| 0x0200 - 0x027F | 128 Bytes | wozmon keyboard input buffer | |
| 0x0280 - 0x0FFF | 3456 Bytes | RAM | |
| 0x1000 - 0xC027 | Unused | User expandable RAM /IO | |
| 0xC028 | 1 Byte | ACI port to write to cassette | |
| 0xC029 - 0xC0FF | Unused | User expandable RAM / IO | |
| 0xC100 - 0xC1FF | 256 Bytes | ACI ROM | When ACI card is inserted |
| 0xC200 - 0xD00F | Unused | User expandable RAM / IO | |
| 0xD010 - 0xD013 | 4 Bytes | PIA (Peripheral Interface Adapter) | Keyboard and Display |
| 0xD014 - 0xDFFF | Unused | User expandable RAM / IO | |
| 0xE000 - 0xEFFF | 4Ki (4096 Bytes) | RAM | 8K systems (standard system, can load wozbasic) |
| 0xF000 - 0xFEFF | Unused | User expandable RAM / IO | |
| 0xFF00 - 0xFFFF | 256 Bytes | PROM (wozmon) | Programmable read-only memory |
The Apple I included built-incomputer terminal circuitry withcomposite video output. To use the computer, a user-suppliedcomposite monitor andASCII-encodedkeyboard needed to be connected. If a monitor was not available, a standardtelevision set could be used along with anRF modulator. In comparison, competing machines generally required an expensive dedicated video display terminal orteletypewriter. This, combined with its single-board construction, made the Apple I an elegant and inexpensive machine for its day, though competitors such as theSol-20 andSphere 1 offered similar feature sets.
The computer generated its video output using ashift register memory and aSignetics 2513 64×8×5 Character Generator.[56] It was capable of displaying uppercase characters, numbers and basic punctuation and math symbols with a 5x8pixel font:[57]
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| 0x 0 | @ | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O |
| 1x 16 | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | [ | \ | ] | ^ | _ |
| 2x 32 | SP | ! | " | # | $ | % | & | ' | ( | ) | * | + | , | - | . | / |
| 3x 48 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | : | ; | < | = | > | ? |
 The Apple Cassette Interface expansion card. There are twophone connector ports for reading and writing programs to a connected cassette deck. | |
 This cassette tape was distributed with the Apple I. Playing this file into an Apple Cassette Interface will load Apple BASIC. Problems playing this file? Seemedia help. |
A cassette interface was available in the form of an optional add-on for the Apple I's expansion slot. Acassette deck plugged in to the expansion'sphone connector ports could be written to and read from as a form ofremovable storage. The only alternative to the interface for loading programs was typing machine code by hand, making the add-on "ubiquitous".[58]
The expansion came with a free cassette tape containingSteve Wozniak'sInteger BASIC interpreter. Other software tapes were supplied "at minimal cost"[54] includingported video games such asHamurabi,Lunar Lander andStar Trek.[3]
Only about 200 Apple I boards were produced,[39] and as of August 2022[update] the whereabouts of 62 to 82 are known.[59] After the success of theApple II, and of Apple broadly, the Apple I was recognized as an important historical computer.[60][61] According to the 1986Apple IIe Owner's Guide, an Apple I was then worth "between $10,000 and $15,000"[g][63] and a board was reportedly sold for $50,000 in 1999.[h][64]
In November 2010, an Apple I with a cache of original documents and packaging sold for £133,250 ($170,000)[i] atChristie's auction house in London. The documents included the return label showing Steve Jobs's parents' address, a personally typed and signed letter from Jobs (answering technical questions about the computer), and the invoice (listing "Steven" as the salesman). The computer was brought toPolytechnic University of Turin for restoration.[66][67][68]
In October 2014 theHenry Ford Museum purchased an Apple I at aBonhams auction for$905,000.[j] The sale included the keyboard, monitor, cassette decks and a manual.[14] In 2017, an Apple I removed from Steve Jobs's office in 1985 by Apple quality control engineer Don Hutmacher was placed on display atLiving Computers: Museum + Labs.[69]
On May 30, 2015, an elderly woman reportedly dropped off boxes of electronics for disposal at anelectronics recycling center in theSilicon Valley of Northern California. Included in the electronics (removed from her garage after the death of her husband) was an original Apple I computer, which the recycling firm sold for$200,000. When a discarded item is sold, it is the company's practice to give 50% of the proceeds to the original owner,[70][71] but the woman has not been identified.[72]
Apple I computers with original documents and memorabilia have frequently been auctioned for over $300,000 throughout the 2010s[73][74][75][76] and 2020s.[77][78] The production prototype for the Apple I survives in a badly damaged state and was itself auctioned in 2022 for $677,196.[79][30][80][81]
Several Apple Iclones and replicas have been released in recent years. These are created by hobbyists and marketed to the hobbyist/collector community. Availability is usually limited to small runs in response to demand.[82][83][84][85][86][87]
Emulation software for the Apple I has been written for modern home computers[88][89][90] and for web browsers.[91] It has also been emulated on 1980s era computers including theSAM Coupé[92] andCommodore 64.[93]
At a Homebrew meeting in July 1976, Woz gave a demonstration of the Apple 1. Paul Terrell, one of the industries earliest retailers, was in attendance.
After my first meeting, I started designing the computer that would later be known as the Apple I. It was that inspiring.
A recycling centre in the Silicon Valley is looking for a woman who dropped off an old Apple computer that turned out to be a collectible item worth $200,000 US.
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