Apple Inc.

AN EXTREMELY RARE FACTORY-SEALED, 4GB FIRST GENERATION APPLE IPHONE, DISCONTINUED JUST OVER TWO MONTHS AFTER ITS DEBUT

At the MacWorld Conference on January 9^th, 2007, Steve Jobs remarked, "Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone." The iPhone had been a project several years in the making — one that utilized Apple’s top engineers to reimagine what we know as the smartphone. Coming out of the secret "Project Purple 2" was a phone built to prioritize the user experience and present the best of Apple's existing systems. In recognition of the importance of new products such as the iPhone to the future of the company, Jobs also announced the renaming of Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple Inc. at the 2007 MacWorld Conference and, on June 29^th, 2007, the company released the highly anticipated iPhone to the public.

Complete with a 3.5-inch LCD display and 2 megapixel camera, the first generation iPhone allowed users to access music, videos, email, and the internet at the touch of their fingertips. The iPhone superseded previous models of the iPod with its novel multi-touch touchscreen display. Running on the same OS X operating system as Mac computers, this first generation iPhone came with 4GB of storage and originally retailed for $499.

On account of its smaller storage size in comparison to its 8GB counterpart, the 4GB first generation iPhone encountered relatively uninspiring sales and was discontinued on September 5, 2007, just over two months after its debut. As such, it is an extremely rare item, especially in brand new, factory-sealed condition.

The sleek appearance of Apple's iPhone would beat out its competitors’ models that were still burdened with keyboards and various buttons, and Time Magazine would name the iPhone the “Invention of the Year” for 2007. Apple would discontinue the 4GB model just over two months after its debut, and the entire first generation only a year after its release. Factory-sealed in its original packaging and complete with accessories, this first generation iPhone is a symbol of innovation, not only in technology but in how we interact with each other.

This lot also comes with factory-sealed models of the iPhone Bluetooth Headset and iPod Classic 160GB, two products released within just a couple months of the first generation iPhone. Forming a trio of Apple products marking Apple's annus mirabilis, 2007 was the year that laid the foundation for Apple to become the first $3 trillion company and the world's most valuable company at the time of writing.