---
title: "Which came first, Apple or Harry Potter?"
description: "Apple vs Harry Potter: Apple came first, by 21 years — 1976 against 1997. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-harry-potter/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Apple or Harry Potter?

**Which came first, Apple or Harry Potter?: Apple**

1976 — 21 years before Harry Potter

Apple came first, by 21 years. Jobs, Wozniak and Wayne founded Apple Computer Company.

## Side by side

|  | Apple | Harry Potter |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1976 | 1997 |
| Date | 1976-04-01 | 1997-06-26 |
| Category | company | media |
| What happened | Jobs, Wozniak and Wayne founded Apple Computer Company. | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in the UK. |

## 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.

## Harry Potter

Bloomsbury published the first book in June 1997 with a print run of 500 copies, most of which went to libraries, after twelve other publishers had rejected the manuscript. The company's chairman gave the first chapter to his eight-year-old daughter, who demanded the rest. It came out the same year as Netflix was founded and a year before Google.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Apple or Harry Potter?

Apple, by 21 years — 1976 against 1997.

### When did Apple start?

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

### When did Harry Potter start?

1997. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in the UK.

## Related pages

- [Apple or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-nintendo/)
- [Apple or the Ford Motor Company?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-ford/)
- [Apple or Coca-Cola?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-coca-cola/)
- [Apple or LEGO?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-lego/)
- [Apple or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-samsung/)
- [Apple or McDonald's?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-mcdonalds/)
- [Apple or Microsoft?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-microsoft/)
- [Apple or the internet (ARPANET)?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-arpanet/)
- [Apple or email?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-email/)
- [Apple or the Macintosh?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-macintosh/)
- [Apple or Windows?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-windows/)
- [Apple or the World Wide Web?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-world-wide-web/)

## Sources

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