Ronald Wayne
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Original Apple co-founder Ronald Wayne auctioning off early Apple documents
The story of Ronald Wayne almost sounds like the plot of a screwball comedy. One of the three original co-founders of Apple, Wayne sold his 10 percent stake in the company for $800 early in the company's life, and then forfeited any future claims towards profits for $1,500 later on. Despite these missteps, Wayne is incredibly important in Apple's early history, writing the manual for the Apple I and drawing the company's first logo. Now Wayne is selling off early documents from his time at Apple, including blueprints, proofs for the original Apple I manual, and drawings. Here's the lot description from Christie's. APPLE COMPUTER COMPANY (founded 1 April 1976). The personal archive of Apple Co-Founder Ronald Wayne.COMPRISING: Ronald WAYNE (b. 1934). Proof sheets for the Apple-1 Operation Manual. Palo Alto: Apple Computer Company, [1976]. Eleven sheets, printed on rectos only. Comprising front cover, text and warranty. A COMPLETE SET OF PROOFS collected by Ronald Wayne, with the exception of the folding schematic that would have been printed by a different process. [With:] Ronald WAYNE. Personal archive of preparatory drawings and blueprints for the casing of the Apple II Computer. [Palo Alto, ca 1976-77]. Comprising: 8 original pencil sketches on paper, 11 x 16 in. (6) and 17 x 22 in. (2); and 17 blueprints, 22 x 34 in. (5), 16 1/2 x 22 in. (2) and 8 1/2 x 11 in. (10). Wayne's drawings and blueprints show the enclosure, panels, door, hinges, pivots etc. The final version of the Apple II was introduced on 16 April 1977 at the West Coast Computer Faire. Although the final version contained certain recognizable elements of Wayne's early renderings, such as the gently sloping front panel holding the keyboard, the result was quite different. This series of renderings illustrates the rigorous industrial design process employed in Apple's formative years: a process that can certainly still be seen in the company's adventurous, innovative leap forwards in its combination of applied science and design. [With:] Apple-II. Advance Order Information. Palo Alto, 1977. Bifolium (275 x 428 mm; 10 3/4 x 16 3/4 in.). THE EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE ORDER FORM FOR THE APPLE II. As most examples would have been filled out and returned to the company, an original example, unmarked, is a very rare ephemeral piece of Apple history. The lot is expected to sell for $30,000 - $50,000. If you'd like to place a bid, head over to Christie's.
Today is Apple's 38th birthday
On Thursday April 1, 1976 Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne started Apple Computers. Their first product was the Apple I computer kit, built by hand by its designer Steve Wozniak. The Apple I consisted of just a motherboard, leaving users to provide their own keyboard, monitor, and case. It went on sale in June of that year for $666.66, or $2,773 in today's dollars. Now Apple is 38 years old. 456 months, 1,983 weeks, and 13,879 days of existence. In the years since its founding, the company has released groundbreaking computers from the Apple II to the Macbook Pro, constantly pushing its products to new levels of innovation. These innovations revolutionized MP3 players (launching the iPod in 2001), tablets (the iPad in 2010), and smartphones (the iPhone in 2007). Of the founding pioneers of the company, two are still alive today. Steve Jobs left the company in 1985 after a power struggle with the board of directors, but returned in the late 90s to help save the company. Without Steve Jobs, Apple may very well have gone bankrupt. Under his leadership as CEO Apple introduced the iPod, iPad, iPhone, iMac, and its own digital content retailer, iTunes. Jobs passed away in 2011 following a struggle with pancreatic cancer. Steve Wozniak left Apple in 1987 and continued his work as an entrepreneur, starting a new company called CL 9 which developed the first programmable universal remote control in 1987. Beyond his business pursuits Wozniak also taught 5th grade and appeared on Dancing with the Stars. He continues to work part time with Apple to this day. As for Ronald Wayne, his story is a slightly sad one. Wayne was an important part of Apple's founding, writing the original partnership agreement and drawing the company's first logo. For his work he was given a ten percent stake in the company, which he sold shortly after the company was founded out of fears he might be responsible for any debt the company accumulated. He reportedly sold his shares in the company for $2,300, or $9,657.88 in modern dollars. If he had held onto his ten percent he would be a billionaire today. In 2010 he explained the sale to the San Jose Mercury News. "I don't waste my time getting frustrated about things that didn't work out," he says. "I left Apple for reasons that seemed sound to me at the time. Why should I go back and 'what if' myself? If I did, I'd be in a rubber room by now." Happy birthday, Apple. You've been a source of innovation and technological foresight for almost four decades now. We can't wait to see what the next four decades will bring.
Two days in the desert with Apple's lost founder, Ron Wayne
"I have to ask you something," Ron Wayne begins, as we stand to leave his office, signaling the close of our day-long conversation. He takes a slightly dramatic pause, adding, "compared to other people, is my life really that interesting?" This isn't modesty; it's earnestness. Wayne is genuinely curious about what makes his 77 years on earth so fascinating to have warranted my traveling across the country in order to spend a few days in his presence. I answer, honestly, that it's his time with Apple that has made him such a figure of interest. "Oh," he responds. "So it's my brushes with famous people. I'm a footnote in someone else's story." Thirty-five years ago, Ronald G. Wayne helped co-found the Apple Computer Company with two men 20 years his junior, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak -- names that have since become synonymous with the personal computer revolution of the early 80s. For Wayne, however, it was a gig that lasted all of a dozen days, abruptly ending when he marched down to the Santa Clara County Registry Office to have himself stricken from the contract he'd authored. His is a name that pops up every few years or so, shrouded in mystery, the "forgotten" or "unknown" founder of one of the world's most successful companies – and perhaps more infamously, the man who once owned 10 percent of its stock, only to walk away from it all a mere $2,300 richer.%Gallery-141297%
Apple co-founder Ron Wayne's stash of early documents (eyes-on)
About a week ago, we traveled to the desert to spend two days with Ron Wayne. The 77-year-old Pahrump, Nevada resident has had a number of careers in his long life, working for Atari, a few slot machine companies, developing devices for use on the ocean floor and running a collectables shop in Northern California. In his semi-retired state, Wayne sells stamps and coins to supplement his checks from the government. He's no doubt best known, however, for his role in the founding of the Apple Computer company, alongside Steves Jobs and Wozniak, a role at which he spent a little more than a week. During our time in Pahrump, Wayne was kind enough to let us comb over a number of papers from his days with the nascent computer company. The documents, stashed in a USPS mailer kept by the door of his office, were a veritable treasure trove of information, including pages of pages of plans and pencils drawings of an Apple I enclosure Jobs asked Wayne to build -- his creation was ultimately rejected by Apple and lost to history as the company gained steam. Also stored in the envelope were a facsimile of the contract signed by Wayne, Woz and Jobs, which recently sold on auction for more than $1 million -- in fact, it was Wayne's original copy that hit the auction block. He had parted ways with it for far, far less some time ago. Wayne's Statement of Withdrawal is in the pile as well -- the document effectively ended his term with the company, filed for a $5 fee. Also inside are an Apple I operation manual, with the company's original logo, designed by Wayne himself and an Apple II order form. Check out all of the above in the gallery below.%Gallery-141277%
Distro Issue 18 explores the life of Ron Wayne, Apple's lost founder
Some have pegged Ron Wayne as unlucky; not only did he lose big by backing out of one of the most successful companies in consumer electronics, but a set of documents he once sold for a reported $500 recently demanded $1.6 million at auction. Earlier this month, Brian Heater spent two days in the Nevada desert following Apple's third founder, a man known best for his proximity to two guys named Steve and notoriously unfortunate timing. In this issue of Distro, we'll get a glimpse inside Ron's world -- a place occupied by slot machines, antique firearms and collectible coins -- and discover what he really thinks about his onetime business partners. Also in this issue, we'll double your pleasure with a pair of LG smartphone reviews: the Nitro HD and DoublePlay. Dana Wollman will rip through Jawbone's troubled fitness device, the Up, and take Lenovo's IdeaPad U400 for a spin. Ross Rubin will serve up his opinion on "WebOS' Open Sores" and we'll explore the gadgets we can't let go of in IRL. So get to downloading!
Apple's founding documents pull in $1.6 million at auction
Over two weeks ago, the internets were abuzz with talk of Apple's founding documents hitting the auction block. Word was, they'd rake in a sizable $150,000 on the high-end, but it appears even Sotheby's underestimated the power of paperwork. The three sheets of dead tree in question, signed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne (Apple's often forgotten third founder) fetched a whopping $1.6 million today. The documents originally belonged to Mr. Wayne, who reportedly received just $2,300 after relinquishing his stocks and agreeing to forfeit claims against the big Apple. According to Bloomberg, Sotheby's identified the winning bidder as Eduardo Cisneros, CEO of the Cisneros Corp. Over two weeks ago, the internets were abuzz with talk of the Apple's founding documents hitting the auction block. Word was, they'd rake in a sizable $150,000 on the high-end, but it appears even Sotheby's underestimated their value. The three pieces of paper in question, signed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, Apple's short-lived third founder, fetched a whopping $1.6 million dollars today. The documents originally belonged to Mr. Wayne, who reportedly received just $2,300 after relinquishing his stocks and agreeing to forfeit claims against the big Apple. According to Bloomberg, Sotheby's identified the winning bidder as Eduardo Cisneros, CEO of the Cisneros Corp.
Apple's founding documents go up for auction, estimated to bring in $150k
Sure, your OG iPhone may look like a relic from Apple's past, but for a true bite of old skool memorabilia you may want to consider bidding on the company's original founding documents signed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The three-page treasure, which established the Apple Computer Company way back in 1976 won't come cheap, though, as they're expected to go for a cool $100,000 to $150,000. Besides the starting papers, Sotheby's New York is throwing in Ronald Wayne's Statement of Withdrawal as part of the package, a document that gives up his ten percent stake in the biz -- what some may call a $2.6 billion dollar mistake. Check out the source for more auction details.
Daily Update for November 28, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Ronald Wayne's autobiography now in the iBookstore
Apple co-founder Ronald Wayne's autobiography Adventures of an Apple Founder is now available in the iBookstore. Who is Ronald Wayne? Many Apple fans know the story of a young Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, busily working in the Jobs family garage in the 1970s. That effort would lead to the Apple we know today, with each man being credited as Apple co-founder. There was a third party, too, whose name is less synonymous with Apple. Ronald Wayne was the young company's "adult supervision," and drew the very first logo and wrote the manual for the Apple I. Plus, he drew up the original partnership agreement between Jobs and Woz. I'm sure those stories and more are in Adventures of an Apple Founder. He left the company a short time later, and he explains why he does not regret the decision in the book. Those interested in Apple's history will want to pick it up. While you're at it, why not buy iWoz and Steve Jobs for the trifecta?
Happy 35th birthday to Apple, Inc.
It's no joke: Apple, Inc. turns 35 today. On April 1, 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne (who 12 days later sold his share of the startup for a meager US$2,300) founded Apple Computer. As a newborn, Apple intended to sell low-cost, hand-manufactured microcomputer components to fellow members of the local Homebrew Computer Club. [Ron Wayne will be appearing on Fox Business News this afternoon at 3:30 PM to talk about his early Apple experiences. –Ed.] Not satisfied with selling a few parts to a handful of enthusiasts, a persistent Steve Jobs pitched Apple's products to Paul Terrell, owner of a newly founded computer store in Mountain View, CA, called "Byte Shop." After a few exposures to Jobs' reality distortion field, Terrell agreed to an order of 50 fully assembled Apple I personal computers from the infant company. The two Steves, with a bit of help from their friends (and funded by the sale of a few prized possessions and a favorable loan from a parts supplier) assembled the company's first 50 machines. Together with Byte Shop, Apple put the original machines up for sale at $666.66 each, lighting the match that would later ignite the personal computer revolution.
