LIVERMORE, CA - September 5, 2000 [Vintage Computer Festival] The Vintage Computer Festival announced today that an original Apple-1 computer circa 1976 will be auctioned off on the first day of the 4th annual Vintage Computer Festival, happening on September 30th through October 1st at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, California. "This is the machine that launched Apple Computer and begat one of the most amazing Silicon Valleysuccess stories in the history of the computer business," said Vintage Computer Festival (VCF) founder and organizer, Sellam Ismail. "The story of Apple Computer is well known: two guys working out of a garage create what turns into a multi- billion dollar business. This computer represents the humble beginnings of an industry that has seen an incredible explosion of growth in such a relatively short span of time." The Apple-1 was the brainchild of Steve Wozniak, who designed and built it in his spare time in the mid 1970's while still an employee at Hewlett-Packard. Management at HP saw no future in the computer and released all rights to Wozniak. Steve Jobs, Wozniak's high school friend, convinced Wozniak to market the machine. Jobs managed to land an order for 50 of the machines with a chain computer store called The Byte Shop, helping to launch the fledgling Apple Computer. The original selling price was $666.66. "The public eye is currently on Apple and Apple's CEO Steve Jobs since they are riding a crest of excellent product releases and climbing revenue," says Ismail. "This auction will hopefully attract those who wish to own a piece of the history of Apple, one of the most celebrated Silicon Valley success stories. This machine also represents the birth of the microcomputer itself, and is a very significant machine, both for its place in computing history and for its rarity. There are probably less than 200 of these remaining in the world." Moreover, the machine going to the auction block is in a condition and state of completeness not seen in similar recent auctions. Says Ismail, "this computer comes with all the accessories it was originally sold with, making it the most complete Apple-1 to come to auction in recent times." The owner of the computer, Ray Borrill, operated a chain of computer stores in the Midwest in the late 70's, one of the first in the nation. This particular Apple-1 was one of 15 units ordered directly from Steve Jobs. It was used as a display model and was never sold. Borrill decided to hold onto it through the years for posterity. Borrill, now retired, has decided that it's time to pass the machine on to someone else who will continue to appreciate it as he did. The Vintage Computer Festival is a yearly event in the Silicon Valley that celebrates computer history by featuring speakers computers and computing artifacts, some dating back over half a century or more. This is the fourth year of the Festival. Speakers this year include Jim Warren, founder and organizer of the West Coast Computer Faire, as well as Larry Tesler, who was at one point Apple's chief scientist and also worked at the prestigious Xerox Palo Alto Research Center during the 1970s. Warren and Tesler will be participating in a roundtable conference on day 1 of the Festival. This year, California Extreme 2000 (http://www.caextreme.org), a classic arcade game show featuring hundreds of classic video games and pinball machines, joins the VCF. The VCF and California Extreme 2000 share the same venue, and discounts will be available at the door for attending both events. Information about the Apple-1 auction can be found at http://www.vintage.org/2000/apple-1.html. General information about the fourth annual Vintage Computer Festival can be found at http://www.vintage.org/. MEDIA CONTACT: Sellam Ismail 925/371.1050 x102 sellam(a)vintage.org http://www.vintage.org Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking for a six in a pile of nines... VCF 4.0 is September 30-October 1 San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California See http://www.vintage.org for details!