---
title: "Which came first, Apple or Coca-Cola?"
description: "Apple vs Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola came first, by 90 years — 1886 against 1976. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-coca-cola/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Apple or Coca-Cola?

**Which came first, Apple or Coca-Cola?: Coca-Cola**

1886 — 90 years before Apple

Coca-Cola came first, by 90 years. John Pemberton first sold his syrup at a pharmacy in Atlanta.

## Side by side

|  | Apple | Coca-Cola |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1976 | 1886 |
| Date | 1976-04-01 | 1886-05-08 |
| Category | company | company |
| What happened | Jobs, Wozniak and Wayne founded Apple Computer Company. | John Pemberton first sold his syrup at a pharmacy in Atlanta. |

## Apple

Apple was founded on 1 April 1976, a year and a day after Microsoft. Ronald Wayne, the third founder, sold his 10% stake back for $800 twelve days later. The Apple I was a bare circuit board sold for $666.66; the Apple II of 1977 was the machine that made the company.

## Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola went on sale in May 1886 as a patent medicine, selling about nine glasses a day in its first year. Pemberton sold the rights for a few thousand dollars and died in 1888 without seeing any of it. Pepsi followed in 1893 under the name Brad's Drink, renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1898 — so Coke is seven years older, and both are older than the Ford Motor Company.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Apple or Coca-Cola?

Coca-Cola, by 90 years — 1886 against 1976.

### When did Apple start?

1976. Jobs, Wozniak and Wayne founded Apple Computer Company.

### When did Coca-Cola start?

1886. John Pemberton first sold his syrup at a pharmacy in Atlanta.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]