Wired
The long-range phone hacking device “Blue Box”, which was assembled by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and allegedly marketed by Steve Jobs, will be auctioned in November. The starting bid price is expected to be between $ 8,000 and $ 12,000 (approximately ¥ 835,300 to ¥ 1,253,000).
Two Apple Founders Who Made Big Profit With Phone Hacking Devices
Wozniak, who was 21 years old when he got acquainted with Jobs who was 16 years old at the time, made a fraudulent free long-distance call in an article in Esquire magazine in the fall of 1971. You will know the existence of the device “Blue Box” that makes it possible.
Wozniak and Jobs met and exchanged information with John T. Draper (Cap’n Crunch) who appeared in the article, and while discovering technical materials of US carrier AT & T in the library of Stanford University, they eventually became original. Succeeded in making the Blue Box of.
Jobs sold this device in student dormitories at a price of $ 150 per unit, and eventually the number of Blue Boxes sold reached about 200 units. Wozniak and Jobs, who made big profits, decided to stop selling the device after being threatened by a gun in a business talk.
Mr. Wozniak and Mr. Jobs are said to have later co-founded Apple due to their experience of making and selling Blue Box.
The winning bid at the last listing was $ 125,000
The original Blue Box, which Wozniak assembled the circuit board in 1972 and sold by Jobs, will be put up for sale at the auction house Bonhams on November 5th. It measures 51 x 72 mm and comes with a speaker wire and a 9 volt battery connector.
If it weren’t for the Blue Box, Apple would definitely not exist. – Steve Jobs
The Blue Box was sold for $ 125,000 when it was last listed in 2017, and it is speculated that it will be bought at a considerable price this time as well.
Source: Bonhams via AppleInsider
(lexi)
Source: iPhone Mania