First generation iPod fetches $29,000 at auction
The item had never been used and was still sealed in its packaging
A first generation Apple iPod has sold at auction for a record $29,000.
The device had been sitting forgotten on a shelf at a home in Texas where it had remained in its original Apple packaging and store blue bag since Christmas 2001, after being gifted to a teenager from his parents. It had been originally purchased for $399 at an Apple store.
The auction of the iPod took place at the Rally Alternative Asset Investment platform on Friday, 4th August. Rob Petrozzo, a co-founder of the investment platform, said that the original owner "didn't know what to do with it" when he was first given the item as a gift. Having paid little attention to it in the days after receiving it, he put it on a shelf and it was subsequently forgotten.
The iPod was ultimately rediscovered after the owner's father passed and he did a deep clean of his childhood home.
The specific item in question first re-appeared on the market in 2021, when the investment platform opened up ownership of the product to a number of people by breaking it up into 5000 shares, which were sold at $5 a share between 360 investors. However, a private investor came forward last week to place a buyout offer of $29,000. The shareholders ultimately voted to accept the offer, with 61.98% of those who voted in favour of selling the item to the individual buyer.
In May of this year, Apple Music teamed up with Maps to launch city-specific music guides.
In April, Apple detailed a plan to use 100% recycled cobalt in all of its batteries while stating its intention to use "entirely recycled rare earth elements" in magnets for Apple devices, something which was first introduced in the Taptic Engine of iPhone 11.
