Apple guru Steve Jobs’ first ever job application up for auction, IRL and in NFT

Steve Jobs' first job application will go under the hammer from today in a world-first auction that will see the typewritten paper document sold at the same time - and with the same starting price - as a digital-only version.

The Apple co-founder, who died of cancer aged 56 in 2011, filled in the application for an unknown role in 1973, a year before he joined video game startup Atari, where he met fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

The job application is a window to a pivotal moment in time that impacted the way in which we now globally communicate and connect.

Jobs lists his early interests and skills within the form, noting experience with computers, calculators, design and electronics tech.

He goes on to state he, ironically, had no phone and that — while he possessed a driver’s license — access to transportation was ‘possible, but not probable’.

Young entrepreneur Olly Joshi bought the application form with a group of like-minded associates for £204,000 at an auction held by Charterfields four months ago.

Now Joshi is selling the form alongside its non-fungible token (NFT). An NFT is a unique digital asset representing a real-world object that is minted on blockchain, which guarantees its authenticity. The buyer owns the original digital asset, and proof of its authenticity is built into the NFT's code.

NFTs are traded online, frequently with cryptocurrency, recently rising in popularity as a way to trade digital artwork. They are typically held on the Ethereum blockchain.

A major auction house offered a digital-only artwork with an NFT for the first time in March, when Christie's sold one from digital artist Mike Winklemann, aka Beeple, for $70 million (£51 million). It was also the first time crypto had been used to pay for an artwork at a major auction.

Ahead of the auction Joshi said he hopes the lot "will be a massive proof point for NFTs and their role in culture", and pointed to the aptness of using an item created by the Apple founder.

NFT marketplace Rarible hosts the application's token. It will be available to buy in Ethereum. Auction software firm Snoofa is hosting the physical auction, and will be offered to buyers in crypto and US dollars.

The auction will run for a week from 5.41pm on Wednesday July 21. The timing is in homage to the moment Jobs would unveil the next killer product at his launch events.

For more, visit the auction page at https://stevejobsjobapplication.com/