First Generation IPhone Menghargai Rp900 Juta Dalam Auction

IPhone 2007. (Source: LCG Auctions)

JAKARTA - A first-generation 2007 iPhone sold for more than US$63,000 or around Rp961,704,450 in an online auction on Sunday last week, more than 100 times its original price, with the LCG Auctions auction house saying it had never been opened.

The original iPhone costs $599 and offers early Apple users a 3.5-inch screen with a 2-megapixel camera, plus a 4GB or 8GB storage option, internet and iTunes capabilities.

However, this phone does not yet have an app store, runs on the 2G network and is exclusive to the AT&T network.

The offer for the phone started online earlier this month for 2,500 US dollars. Overall, there are 27 incoming offerings, according to the LCG website.

"There are 10 buyers competing to get the iPhone and the winner is someone from the US," Mark Montero, founder of the LCG Auctions, told CNN as quoted February 20.

As previously reported, the cellphone was given to cosmetic tattoo artist Karen Green as a gift, when she got a new job, as reported by The Guardian from Business Insider.

However, Green already has a new phone, and moreover, the iPhone at that time was not compatible with his mobile network.

Instead of opening the iPhone, Green kept it on the shelf and stayed there for years.

In 2019, Green appeared on TV show 'Doctor & the Diva', where antiques appraiser Lori Verdame rated her iPhone for $5.000. The price has been rising since then.

In October last year, Green heard that the first-generation iPhone from 2007 had sold for $39,339.60.

Green said he decided to sell the iPhone now to support his new cosmetic tattoo studio in New Jersey.

"If I can keep the phone for another 10 years, I might do it," Green explained.

"The only reason I sell that phone is because I need to support this business."

It is known, the iPhone changes the way billions of people around the world communicate, make payments, do their jobs, and take photos. It kills dozens of industries (camcorders, MP3 players, mobile phones), but brings many more to life.

Speaking at Apple's annual exhibition, Macworld, in 2007, Apple's then boss, Steve Jobs, opened his presentation with: "We will make history together today."

Jobs called the new smartphone a "violatory phone" that would be equipped with Nominations, telephones and what he called an "Internet communicator."

"Out there is very bad at the moment. This is a real revolution to bring real Web exploration into the phone," Jobs said at the time.