New York
CNN
—
An unopened first-generation iPhone from 2007 is hitting the auction block Thursday – with an estimated value of $50,000.
Originally on sale for $599, the first iPhone offered early Apple adopters a 3.5-inch screen with a 2-megapixel camera, plus 4 GB and 8 GB storage options, internet capabilities and iTunes. It had no app store, ran on a 2G network and was exclusive to AT&T’s network.
Cosmetic tattoo artist Karen Green was gifted the 8 GB version and never broke the seal, according to her appearance on daytime television program “The Doctor & The Diva” in 2019. An appraiser on the show valued the phone at $5,000 at that time.
Since then, another unopened first-generation iPhone like Green’s auctioned off for over $39,000 in a listing by LCG Auctions that closed in October. LCG Auctions is also listing Green’s phone, with bidding opening at $2,500.
Green and LCG Auctions did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
The iPhone changed the way billions of people around the world communicate, make payments, do their jobs, take photos and even how they wake up in the morning. It killed dozens of industries (camcorders, MP3 players, flip phones) and gave life to many more.
Speaking at Apple’s annual Macworld expo in 2007, then-Apple boss Steve Jobs opened his presentation with: “We’re going to make some history together today.” Jobs called the new smartphone a “revolutionary mobile phone” that will feature an iPod, phone and what he called an “Internet communicator.”
“It’s bad out there today,” said Jobs of mobile Web browsers. “It’s a real revolution to bring real Web browsing to a phone.”
Apple enthusiasts will have until February 19 to bid on the tech relic.
