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technology segments – discarded and obsolete products of our personal
technology past.
Given the sheer number of obsolete products covered in these
mass market segments (video games, video game consoles,
cellphones, smartphones, iPhones, personal computers, portable
computers, tablets, etc.), what do you save, buy back, collect
or discard?
At this time, the market is valuing those items that came
out in limited releases, were first generations, in excellent
condition, are rare examples, have a known brand, are a
special model, include packaging (i.e., in the original
box with manuals), and have a heap of nostalgia. From
this point forward, it’s anyone’s guess, but it’s safe to
say the vintage technology trend is in play.

Another Bite at the Apple
Apple Computer Company was founded by the
“Two Steves,” Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, and
their partner Ronald Wayne in April of 1976,
famously going on to build what would be the
Apple 1 and starting a personal computing revolution
out of a garage. The Apple 1 went on sale in July
1976 as an assembled circuit board with a retail This 1997 “TAM” 20th Anniversary Macintosh Computer
price of $666.66. About 200 units of the Apple 1 sold for $1,950 at Julien’s Auctions on March 30, 2023
boards were eventually sold. A hand-numbered
Apple 1 computer sold this past December for over
$440,000 on the auction site RR Auction. The Apple’s iPhone Revolution
board was numbered “01-00002” by Steve Jobs In January 2007, Apple’s Steve Jobs introduced the world to the
himself and the technical condition report was iPhone, a revolutionary mobile phone and a breakthrough Internet
prepared by Apple 1 expert Corey Cohen. communicator. It featured a 3.5” screen, a multi-touch touchscreen
display, a microphone, headset controls, and specs that the modern
smartphone user takes for granted today. At the time, The Wall Street
Journal touted the phone as “on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough
handheld computer.” TIME took it a step further, hailing the original
iPhone as the “Invention of the Year.” It also turned the cellphone into
a smartphone, a new product segment that immediately appealed to a
generation of young consumers raised on portable computers, cellular
phones, and anywhere, anytime access to their channels of communication
and information.
A year after the debut of the original iPhone, which sold 6.1 million
units, Apple introduced its successor, the iPhone 3G. This next-
generation device not only included such new hardware features as 3G
data and GPS but most notably introduced the world to the Apple App
Store. Over one million units were sold in just the first weekend! Apple
had found a winning market formula, embarking on a strategy to define
and dominate this new smartphone segment of the mobile phone
market by regularly churning out next-generation products based on
the latest apps, computing
capabilities, and wireless
technology. Over the last 16
An Apple Lisa with dual 5.25" years, Apple has trained a
Twiggy floppy drives generation of young users to
and 5 MB ProFile hard disk
expect and look forward to the
latest and greatest. Today,
that’s the iPhone 14.
Another rare Apple product getting attention at auction these days So, are all these past-
is the Apple “Lisa.” The Lisa was first introduced by Apple in January generation iPhones worth
1983 as one of the first commercial PCs to ship with a graphical user anything on the resale market?
interface and mouse. It was code-named “Lisa” after Lisa Brennan, There is a brisk resale
Steve Jobs’ child with a former high school girlfriend. As it turns out, market for newer generation
the Lisa was considered Apple’s most influential failure with an iPhones in good condition
introductory retail price of $9,995. Only 80,000 units were sold. Yet (no chips, cracked screens)
the Lisa is most important historically as the computer that pioneered and working order, with
concepts later used in the far more successful Macintosh. Forty years pre-iPhone 12 generations
later, this historical significance is being recognized and valued at selling online for on average
auction. At the Julien’s Apple Auction in March, the components of an $50-$400. This is a great way
Apple 1983 “Lisa 1” sold for $16,250, and a 1984-85 “Lisa II” to inexpensively purchase a
computer sold for $5,200 against a pre-auction estimate of pre-owned higher-end phone
$800-$1,200. An untouched Apple Lisa with Twiggy drives and Full page print ad for the Apple iPhone or acquire unique models for
original boxes, issued to Apple Executive Del Yocam in 1983, sold for which appeared on the back cover of the your collection. Your old
$81,251 in March at RR Auctions. August 2007 issue of Details Magazine. iPhones can also be valued at

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