An unlocked first-generation iPhone from 2007 will go up for auction on 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 4GB and 8GB storage options, Internet and iTunes capabilities. It had no app store, ran on a 2G network, and was exclusive to the AT&T network. Cosmetic tattoo artist Karen Green was gifted the 8GB version and never opened the package, according to her appearance on the daytime TV program “The Doctor & The Diva” in 2019. An appraiser on the show valued the phone at $5,000 at the time.
Since then, another unlocked first-generation iPhone like Green’s has gone up for over $39,000 in a listing from LCG Auctions that closed in October. LCG Auctions is also listing Green’s phone, with the bid opening at $2,500.
The iPhone changed the way billions of people around the world communicate, make payments, do their jobs, take photos, and even the way they wake up in the morning. Speaking at Apple’s annual Macworld show in 2007, then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs opened his presentation with the words, “We’re going to make history together today.” Jobs called the new smartphone a “revolutionary mobile phone” that will have an iPod, a phone and what he called an “Internet communicator.” Apple enthusiasts will have until February 19 to offer offer for the technology relic.