Prices for the original Apple iPhone still sealed in the original box run as high as $22K on eBay

For many people, their lives changed on January 9th 2007 when Steve Jobs introduced the Apple iPhone at MacWorld. This was the device that everyone wanted. With a signed two-year pact with Cingular (which became AT&T days later), the 4GB version of the handset was $499 and the 8GB model was $599. Apple ran a series of ads that many still remember to this day, showing off how the desktop version of the New York Times looked on mobile Safari, and introducing many to YouTube thanks to a skateboarding dog.

As cool as the original iPhone was, it was far from perfect. Jobs decided to use the slower EDGE network instead of 3G, which meant that if you used the browser, you would end up missing phone calls. The 2MP camera did not have auto focus or a flash and the handset did not support stereo Bluetooth. Also missing was MMS. Still, the features that were on the phone and the sleek touchscreen design made the iPhone a hit. And years later, the introduction of each new iPhone is a major event.

The original iPhone still gets listed and sold on eBay as a collectors' item. The big pay day comes to those who bought the phone, but decided not to take it out of the box. Even if it was all dumb luck, those with a mint condition iPhone still in the sealed box can reap as much as $20,000 on eBay from a willing buyer. And yes, sellers are actually getting these prices.

Maybe its just us, but we'd rather spend a small percentage of that money on a brand new Apple iPhone 7 Plus with features that we couldn't even dream about in 2007.


source: eBay via BGR