Blue Box: Circuit board created by Steve Wozniak goes to auction

Auction house Bonhams has put up for sale one of the original circuit boards for the blue box developed by Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. The initial bid for the item, which will be auctioned on the 5th, is between US$ 8 and 12 thousand (between R$ 45 and 70 thousand, approximately).

As blue boxes They were devices used by phone phreakers to bypass telephone exchange systems and obtain free calls and were used since the 50s, but the first digital models were created by Wozniak in the early 70s.

Between 1972 and 1973, Woz, under the nickname “Berkeley Blue,” and his partner Steve Jobs, as “Oaf Tobar,” illegally produced the trinkets at the University of Berkeley and sold them all over California. This, in fact, was the duo's first commercial venture.

“If it weren’t for the blue boxes, there wouldn’t be Apple. I am 100% sure of that.”

The above phrase was said by Steve Jobs, responsible for marketing the devices.

The original circuit board that made up Steve Wozniak's “blue box” (Courtesy/Bonhams)

Few blue boxes have survived the test of time, as many were confiscated during police raids. As such, the number of circuit boards left is even smaller.

Although Wozniak said the pair produced between 40 and 50 devices, Jobs estimated the number was closer to 2006. “I swear to you, I’ve never designed a circuit that I’m more proud of,” Wozniak recalled in his XNUMX autobiography. “A set of parts that could do three things at once instead of two. It was incredible.”

Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. Apple Insider.