Holmes on the Blue Box

Holmes takes the strongest case in Return to the Little Kingdom, by Michael Moritz: the chapter called The Little Blue Box. Where does Apple begin? Not with a computer: in 1971 Wozniak builds a box for free long-distance calls, and Jobs insists they sell it. $40 of parts, sold for $150; two hundred boxes, $6,000, split in half; then a customer drew a gun and Jobs left the trade. Lestrade asks what use a phone trick is: one builds, one sells. Apple, in miniature.

The strongest case in Return to the Little Kingdom is the chapter called The Little Blue Box: in 1971 Wozniak built a device for free long-distance calls and Jobs, who wanted money, had them sell it door to door; about $40 of parts and four hours of wiring made a box that sold for about $150, some two hundred were sold for about $6,000 split in half, and Jobs quit after a year when a customer pulled a gun; the pattern, one builds and one sells, is Apple in miniature.

On the book: Return to the Little Kingdom by Michael Moritz

Starring

Sherlock HolmesDr. WatsonInspector Lestrade