- The Apple Museum has revealed plans to open a replica of Steve Jobs' garage – complete with an augmented reality guide.
- Founded in 2016, hundreds of people descend on museum's private collection in Prague, the Czech Republic, every day.
- The exhibition has become a hotspot for European entrepreneurs and families curious to learn about the history of Apple.
- Business Insider got an inside look at the museum chronicling almost 50 years of Apple, which has been forced to close temporarily due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Click here for more BI Prime stories.
The Apple Museum, which houses a massive collection of the company's products in Prague, has revealed plans to build an interactive replica of the garage where Steve Jobs started his company.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded the company in the former's garage on this day in 1976. The space has since been designated an historical site by the Los Altos Historical Commission in 2013.
The museum has been temporarily closed since March, due to the coronavirus pandemic, but hopes to reopen soon.
Speaking to Business Insider, CEO Irena Jiroušková said the new site would incorporate augmented reality technology to give visitors a sense of "what it was like for Steve in the very early days of Apple".
Opened in 2016, the Apple Museum offers an inside look at the history of one of the world's biggest tech companies. For Apple fans in Europe whose US travel plans have been upended by the coronavirus, this might just be the next best thing.
One of the first things you see is a portrait of Steve Jobs made from the components of six iMac G3s — a line of Apple computers from 1998-2003
The museum is littered with visual and audio tributes to Jobs.
While walking around a display Macs through the ages, visitors will hear his keynote speeches at Macworld conventions from years past echo around them.
"We really want people to understand what it was he was driving at," said Jiroušková.
"He wanted to change the world."
The museum's owners even commissioned a local artist to recreate Banksy's 'The Son of a Migrant from Syria'
Based on the original, unveiled by Banksy in the Calais refugee camp in 2015, the artwork depicts the late Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs—the son of a Syrian migrant to the United States—as a traveling migrant.
Speaking in a rare public statement at the time, Banksy said: "We're often led to believe migration is a drain on the country's resources, but Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian migrant.
"Apple is the world's most profitable company, it pays over $7bn a year in taxes – and it only exists because they allowed in a young man from Homs."
The museum houses an impressive collection of Apple products dating from the company's early days
Apple's first computer, a naked circuit board called Apple 1 released in 1976, is the first product on display
Hand-built by Jobs and Wozniak, it was sold without a casing, power supply, keyboard, or monitor.
Wozniak reportedly insisted its initial price be $666.66 because he reportedly liked triple digit numbers.
Apple's 1997 'Think Different' ad campaign features heavily, with a wall full of portraits of those celebrated in it
Famous figures featured in the campaign include Martin Luther King Jr, Alfred Hitchcock and Pablo Picasso.
Visitors can get a firsthand look at the evolution of the iMac
Since its debut in 1998, the iMac has gone through seven different iterations.
Speaking to Business Insider, CEO Jiroušková said the museum's roots were in the owner's collection of Apple goods.
"He was a huge fan of Apple and, to be honest, I think his wife was probably getting annoyed at him having all this stuff lying around the house.
"One day he decided: 'OK, I'll put it in a museum."
European entrepreneurs and Apple execs are apparently keen visitors
"Our most popular clientele are men, usually in their 30s, I think," says Jiroušková.
"I think many of them are fascinated by the legacy Mr Jobs built for himself, and many of them are inspired to think what they could do to change the world."
She says a number of Apple executives have even visited from California in the past – but prefers not to name names.
"They are very kind to us," she laughs.
The museum says the new garage installation will open in April
"We bought up some building space next door, and construction is already underway," she added.
"Our plan is to open in April, with a ready-to-go augmented reality guide to walk you through one of the key sites in Mr Jobs' life.
"We think it's going to make our museum even more appealing to families and younger children."
Learn more about the Apple Museum on its website here.
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