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Factory-Sealed Original iPhone Sells for $55,000 at Auction
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In the UK I seem to remember we had the iPod Touch before we could get our hands on iPhone, which was an incredible device in its own right at the time
Very nice of Apple to let you walk out of their store with an iPhone 2G for £269 assuming you would later lock into an expensive O2 contract only for hackers to allow the use of O2 pay as you go SIM cards within a week or so though!
Very nice of Apple to let you walk out of their store with an iPhone 2G for £269 assuming you would later lock into an expensive O2 contract only for hackers to allow the use of O2 pay as you go SIM cards within a week or so though!
Wouldn't blame them! I would love to go back to pre-iOS 7 design. I'm kinda hoping that they bring back skeuomorphism
I have to ask, in all seriousness, "why do you care"? I mean, absolutely no one would be disappointed if YOU stumbled on an extra $60K.
We thought it was a good deal!
(Anytime minutes/Night and weekend)
– $59.99 (450/5000) or
– $79.99 for (900/Unlimited) or
– $99.99 for (1350/Unlimited)
All plans include:
- unlimited 2.5G EDGE data
- Rollover minutes to the next month
- Unlimited AT&T to AT&T mobile calling
- 200 SMS
- Visual Voicemail
Need more SMS?
- Unlimited SMS - $20
- 1500 - $15
- $.20 pay per use
There was no MMS/picture messaging/iMessage.
There was no way to purchase Music wirelessly, no app store, etc….
Its amazing that it was sold at the unsubsidized price and required one of these with a two year contract:
(Anytime minutes/Night and weekend)
– $59.99 (450/5000) or
– $79.99 for (900/Unlimited) or
– $99.99 for (1350/Unlimited)
All plans include:
- unlimited 2.5G EDGE data
- Rollover minutes to the next month
- Unlimited AT&T to AT&T mobile calling
- 200 SMS
- Visual Voicemail
Need more SMS?
- Unlimited SMS - $20
- 1500 - $15
- $.20 pay per use
There was no MMS/picture messaging/iMessage.
There was no way to purchase Music wirelessly, no app store, etc….
I have a 2g im trying to fix one up, its bootlooping, horribly dented and scratched and needs a new screen
anyways, how much does sealed in box 2012 1st generation lg extravert go for? lol
anyways, how much does sealed in box 2012 1st generation lg extravert go for? lol
Even if I could afford such high prices... I'd ruin it, because I'd give into temptation and open it!
It's crazy how the plans were before with the minutes. I'm from Nicaragua and the pre-paid per text charge is crazy, that's why we use WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger
One could argue spending $1000+ on a phone in 2023 is a waste of money.
One’s definition of “a lot of money” varies with the size of the bank account.
So are we all buying two AR/VR head sets at $3K a pop and keeping one sealed in hopes of cashing big in 2050?
First generation unopened iPhones are selling for huge amounts recently!! Collectors item.
Correct. Among all the innovations of the iPhone, Jobs wanted to get rid of the subsidy system. Original iPhones only sold for full retail price with no subsidies. Apple quickly backtracked on this and signed subsidy agreements with AT&T, and eventually, others.
10 years from now the person that bought this iPhone will double or triple their money spent. ( providing the iPhone is kept in the same condition)
Nobody has done it though, and doesn't look like they will. This is such a popular scam scheme
Also, there's nothing really that an x-ray would show that will prove it's fake. The phone might've been refurbished to look brand new, and all the accessories will be put again in the box. The only way to know is to open it and turn on the device, so you can check the serial or parts. The serial number on the box is easily spoofed.
I've long thought that if you have the means, buying a first generation device from an iconic manufacturer like Apple (maybe Nintendo, too?) that you never unpack and store for 10+ years is a great investment.
Whether the OG iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple Watch, or the upcoming VR product - if you keep an unopened 1st gen product for long enough, you can make a pretty awesome return on your investment.
Whether the OG iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple Watch, or the upcoming VR product - if you keep an unopened 1st gen product for long enough, you can make a pretty awesome return on your investment.
Welcome to the world of collecting. people buy cars and barely drive them - look at teh number of 10 year+ cars on auction sites with less than 10k miles on them, or comic books carefully stored in special sleeves, etc.
If we all did, the flood of supply would not make "new, sealed in box" valuations anywhere near these prices.
The draw in all of these "insane" valuations is the relative rarity of whatever it is: art, Action Comics #1 ($3.25 million), Honus Wagner (baseball) card ($6.6 Million), etc. If a bunch of people come forward with mint Action Comics #1 or Honus Wagner cards, their last auctioned price will far exceed the new auction price.
This thread is also full of incredulity at price vs. use. There is no phone use intended here. Collectors of rare anythings generally sit on them for some number of years and then auction them off again at higher prices. Nobody buys Action Comics #1 to take it out of its protective seal to read a comic book or put the Honus in a bicycle spoke for that sound as you ride. It's just another kind of investment... and/or bragging point like owning a Picasso or Monet or Chinese Vase or any of countless other antiquity items, etc. I recall some guy spent a LOT of money to purchase an entire T-REX-like skeleton NOT for a museum or public (use) display ($6 Million).
5 or 10 years from now, these $50K iPhones might be back in an auction and sell for $70K or $100K (how much did that even more "useless" original Apple 1 sell for last year? And how about the non-working Apple 1 going for TWICE that high price back in 2016?). Some of us will be just as incredulous then at the "no practical value whatsoever" in the purchase... until about 5 or 10 more years later when the same is re-auctioned for $100K-$150K. Maybe 100 years from now these crazy $50K iPhone 1s will be selling at the current price of an old baseball card or comic book?
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Not all phones were "free with 2 year contract" back then in the U.S. AT&T would typically discount a phone $150 with a contract but that didn't necessarily make it free. For example, a BlackBerry Curve at the time may have had a price of $449 without a contract but $299 with a 2 year AT&T contract.
Since the iPhone required a 2 year contract, one could assume that AT&T $150 discount was already baked into the price i.e., actual price of 8GB iPhone was $749 but sold for $599 with 2 year contract (before the $200 price reduction less than three months later).
All this blathering about paying big money for collectables says a lot about the socioeconomic status of the posters. Works of art (i.e. the first iPhone, the first Apple I, etc.) are worthy investments. People collect lots of things as a hobby, some of which become very valuable over time. Ask any coin or stamp collector. Ask toy collectors. Ever watch the cable show Pawn Stars?
Since AT&T was typically discounting other phones $150 with 2 year contract, wouldn't similar have been true with the iPhone since it required a 2 year contract i.e., actual price of 8GB iPhone was $749 but sold for $599 with 2 year contract (before the $200 price reduction less than three months later).
Why wouldn't AT&T have given customers contract discounts on the original iPhone just as they had been on other phones at the time?
There has been at least one comment in this thread about Steve Ballmer's reaction to the original iPhone. He did get the point about the price correct as iPhone prices ended up being quickly lowered $200 less than three months after launch.
Below is a video.
Below is a video.
Really do find these types of purchases odd. Not the money, just the fact of buying something sealed and likely no intention of opening it and ever even seeing the device.
At least with the tulip examples above, people bought them, planted them, grew them etc.
I could understand if there were so few original iPhones left that unboxed ones fetched this money as you would then have, and display, the actual device, like the original Apple computers do for example.
At least with the tulip examples above, people bought them, planted them, grew them etc.
I could understand if there were so few original iPhones left that unboxed ones fetched this money as you would then have, and display, the actual device, like the original Apple computers do for example.
Ballmer was Gates’ business guy, much like Tim Cook was to Jobs.
If you want to see the future of Apple under Cook, look at how Ballmer ran Microsoft: grew the valuation and stock price rose, while product innovation and quality lagged.