When Steve Jobs was 19 he was employed at Atari to design. Now a note from the inspirational tech guru has surfaced in which he gives his notes on improving the functionality and fun of the company’s “World Cup” computer program. The note is set to go on auction at Sotheby’s in New York on June 15.
As anyone who has read his Autobiography will be familiar Jobs worked at Atari before travelling across India in the mid 1970s. He was forced to work nights at the company because of his refusal to wash and his constant clashes with employees. In that book Jobs referred to his colleagues at Atari a “dumb shits”
The memo is addressed to Jobs’ supervisor at the time Stephen Bristow, who famously worked on the Atari 2600 later on, and is entitled All-one Farm design. The name of the memo is apparently appropriated from a commune Jobs frequented and his parent’s address in Palo Alto.
The memo features some designs for circuits and an arrangement of players in the game around a goalpost.
Jobs died late last year and became such an icon in the last decade that the prices of artifacts belonging to him are associated with him are sure to appreciate in value as long as people remember Apple’s co-founder. This note is expected to fetch between 10,000 and 15,000 when it goes up for sale in June.
Also up for auction is a working motherboard from the Apple 1 system. There are believed to be only about 50 Apple 1 systems left in the world and only 6 are estimated to be working. The Apple 1 was built by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in Jobs’ parents garage. They made their first imprint on the computer industry with the device.
That device is expected to sell for between 120,000 and 150,000 when it goes on the auction block. The huge valuations for some of the items associated with Steve Jobs is a reflection of how much peopled cared about the former Chief Executive of Apple and how much they respected him.
It may also be the harbinger of things to come as anyone who once knew Steve begins looking for that hat they left in house forty years ago. The sale of personal items has not reached any significant level yet but if prices stay high there will certainly be an increase in supply of hand written reports and old college essays.
