By Ronnie Polidoro
Rock Center
Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that one of the existing Mac lines will be manufactured exclusively in the United States next year, making the comments during an exclusive interview with Brian Williams broadcast Thursday night on NBC’s “Rock Center.” Mac fans will have to wait to see which Mac line it will be because Apple, widely known for its secrecy, left it vague.
“We’ve been working for years on doing more and more in the United States,” Cook told Williams.
This announcement comes a week after recent rumors in the blogosphere sparked by iMacs inscribed in the back with “Assembled in USA.”
It was Timothy D. Cook’s first television interview since taking over from his visionary former boss, Steve Jobs, who resigned due to health reasons in August 2011. Jobs died on October 5, 2011, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
The announcement could be good news for a country that has been struggling with an unemployment rate of around 8 percent for some time and has been bleeding good-paying factory jobs to lower-wage nations such as China.
Cook, who joined Apple in 1998, said he believes it’s important to bring more jobs to the United States. Apple would not reveal where exactly the Macs will be manufactured.
“When you back up and look at Apple’s effect on job creation in the United States, we estimate that we’ve created more than 600,000 jobs now,” said Cook. Those jobs, not all Apple hires, vary from research and development jobs in California to retail store hires to third-party app developers. Apple already has data centers in North Carolina, Nevada and Oregon and plans to build a new one in Texas.
Apple has taken a lot of heat over the past couple of years after a rash of suicides at plants in China run by Foxconn drew attention to working conditions at the world’s largest contract supplier. Apple and other manufacturers who have their gadgets produced by Foxconn were forced to defend production in China. Earlier this year, Apple hired the nonprofit Fair Labor Association to examine working conditions at Foxconn, which makes some of Apple’s most popular products: iPhones, iPods and iPads.
Given that, why doesn’t Apple leave China entirely and manufacture everything in the U.S.? “It’s not so much about price, it’s about the skills,” Cook told Williams.
WATCH VIDEO: Apple CEO announces 'Made in America' plans
Echoing a theme stated by many other companies, Cook said he believes the U.S. education system is failing to produce enough people with the skills needed for modern manufacturing processes. He added, however, that he hopes the new Mac project will help spur others to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.
“The consumer electronics world was really never here,” Cook said. “It’s a matter of starting it here.”
Cook said he still misses Jobs, his friend and mentor, but that Jobs’ advice to him before he died was to do the things he thinks are right and not try to guess “what Steve would do.”
“I loved Steve dearly, and miss him dearly,” Cook told Williams. “And one of the things he did for me, that removed a gigantic burden that would have normally existed, is he told me, on a couple of occasions before he passed away, to never question what he would have done. Never ask the question, ‘What Steve would do,’ to just do what’s right.”
Apple today is worth about 43 percent more than when Cook took over. Under his leadership, Apple has released three new iMac models, two iPhones, two iPads, and the iPad mini.
That’s not to say there haven’t been some speed bumps. Most notable was the release of “Apple Maps,” which replaced the Google Maps app on the iPhone and was widely panned for misleading directions. Cook admits they screwed up.
“On Maps, a few years ago, we decided that we wanted to provide customers features that we didn’t have in the current edition of Maps,” Cook said, “It [Maps] didn’t meet our customers’ expectation, and our expectations of ourselves are even higher than our customers’. However, I can tell you, so we screwed up.”
The Maps debacle led to the defenestration of some company executives, including reportedly Richard Williamson, who oversaw the mapping team.
“We screwed up and we are putting the weight of the company behind correcting it,” Cook told Williams.
Customers still snapped up the iPhone 5, however. According to Apple, five million of them were sold in their first weekend after the device’s launch in September.
Speed bump No. 2 was the redesigned connector for the iPhone 5, which was widely criticized by many because it didn’t fit many of the accessories Apple fans had already purchased for their earlier iPhone versions. It forced them to purchase an adapter, which some criticized as an inelegant solution. Others argue, however, that the new connector was worth it because it allowed Apple to make a smaller device.
NBC News
“It was one of those things where we couldn’t make this product with that connector,” Cook said, “But let me tell you, the product is so worth it.”
What’s next for Apple? Did Cook leave us with a clue?
“When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years,” Cook told Williams. “It’s an area of intense interest. I can’t say more than that.”
Click here to watch Brian Williams' exclusive interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook from Rock Center.
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I applaud Apple for doing this. It would be better if it was all their products, but it's a start. Now more corporations need to follow suit. We'll never get this country or economy straight until we start making products in the US again, besides the current state of weapons and trash.
To Little to late Apple, Like to many so-called US company's you should be taxed heavily or broken up. enjoy your I-phones suckers and dont forget to get to wall mart to save big and keep slavery alive around the world
I wonder what US manufacturing skill obstacles Mr. Cook is talking about when comparing the FOXCONN workforce of mostly inland China unskilled workers that are trained on the job and the available US human resource pool? Perhaps Mr. Cook considers low wages and the acceptance of a miserable existance and obstacle.
our educational system is too busy turning out reliable obozo voters to teach them to read or write
Let's not forget the part of the equation played by the U.S. government. Regulations and taxes that chase these business elsewhere. Then there are the Unions.
I suspect the product they are moving is the PC since the volume is falling due to Ipads and Iphones sales. The Chinese (Foxcon) probably doesn't want to mess with these small quantities so Tim acts like he is doing the American workers a BIG favor by bringing a SMALL part of the business back to the U.S. since this is where he sells most of the Apple products to individuals, schools, government operations and other businesses here in the U.S. If our government would wake up and add a 35% tariff on ALL of his products coming in from outsourcing offshore you would see him very quickly bring all production back to the U.S. and the unqualified American worker would suddenly become very capable but as long as he and his company can make the huge profits by using the slave labor offshore and award him millions in income guess where he will continue to do the bulk of his manufacturing. Duh.
I am an American and I have lived in China for 6 years now and I have been back to America for 9 months now.
Wow what a difference in America compared to low quality producing China.
I was going to buy Macbook Air in China but when I went to an authorized Mac dealer there.
They asked me which Macbook Air 13 inch I wanted. I thought they meant the configuration of components within. The dealer still asked me which one. I told him the 13 inch with this configuration. He said no, do you want the one produced for America or the one produced for China? I said "What is the difference?"
The dealer said the American on is cheaper but you get no warranty or guarantee and the Chinese one is much more but comes with warranty and guarantee.
I told him you are crazy on how you do business in selling Apple products this way.
I will buy my Mac in America when I go back so that is what I did 9 months ago I bought a Macbook Air 13 inch latest model and there is a big difference in quality here compared to China ones. Everything American should be made in the U.S.A., quality is what this country is about and to trust the companies that make the products.
I do not know why Apple went to China. To save on labor which is so cheap there!
A Chinese worker on the average only makes $50.00 dollars of month and does not get health insurance or any other benefits.
Shame on Apple for going there to manufacture their line of products.
Why do you think the Chinese come here to buy out all the iPhones because the Chinese versions are limited and are bad quality. They just started selling iPhone5 in China this week!
I hope other companies start doing the same as Apple and changing their views on giving Americans the work and jobs and producing real "Made in USA" products!
Actually the bigger concerns are environmental, taxation, and regulation of all kinds.
Most electronics are manufactured by robots in clean rooms. The labor is not a huge component in the costs.
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*deep breath*
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Wow....whenever something is gonna be made in the U.S. now, there is a huge announcement like it is a first....which it almost is now. Pitiful. Are there any things made in the U.S. except stickers and tags to be put on our products that have been made overseas?
Finally the father of out sourcing will pay their fair share. Time to dump the Apple stock..
That's a nice gesture, and I hope it sends all the right messages to all the right places.
But 'assembled' is not the same as 'made' in America. This is likely to be a final assembly of components made elsewhere, and probably done mostly robotically as is the norm for electronics.
Anyway, it's a step in the right direction. Apple should be congratulated for their marketing sense in recognizing the growing disenchantment with products made abroad, especially China. And outright hostility at companies that take jobs out of the U.S. and install them overseas to take advantage of labor, environmental, and taxation concessions in places where the working poor have zero say in things.
Remember it is engineered in the US which counts most.
Make no mistake about this so called great news. it will still be MANUFACTURED in china, only ASSEMBLED in the USA. great PR for Apple but many ignorant people will go Weee Apple is making stuff in the USA.. Thats what apple is hoping for now that they are facing intense pressure from all sides trying to be competitive with Samsung, Acer, Lenovo, Nokia.. etc..etc and android devices flooding the market.
It's a sound decision; people like me could then buy a Mac without feeling like we had to wash blood off our hands every time we used it. I won't knowingly buy anything made by forced child labor, slaves, or prisoners- and supporting that sort of thing for the sake of an elegant product also hurts everyone with a job here in America- except, of course, the rich unprincipled bastards who do support it by using companies like... http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57515968-37/riots-suicides-and-other-issues-in-foxconns-iphone-factories/
Great Marketing Strategy! Probably make less profit per unit but make it up in volume.
Exactly. Almost purely a marketing scheme.
And if it works, they can continue it.
It's a win/win for Apple.
I just find it amusing that people don't recognize it for what it is.
That said, any jobs are good jobs, in my opinion, so I'm certainly not bashing them for doing it.
It would be great, if Apple would make the parts in the USA, paying workers a living wage and if that would hold true...than I would be willing to pay more for the product!
As we all know, corporate America has moved plants, jobs out of our country. What a great step it would be, for Apple, to take the lead, in returning jobs back to our country.
How cool would it be to see the Made in America decal on all of the Apple products!!!!!
Yes, our education system is a fail. Its not because of teachers or students ... its the system itself.
We still live in the "Wild Wild West" days where a local community builds a schoolhouse, hires a school teacher and if the community is rich, the students each get their own slate and piece of chalk. If they are poor ... they write in the dirt.
I DO NOT believe that the federal government should control everything. but ....
... maybe its time we took education out of local hands and make it federal. Yes, the local communities would fight this because they have tax money to play with and of course there is the whole "power thing" they have going on but lets get real here ... the old style school system doesn't work any more.
Look at the advantages:
1) A board made up of teachers ... not politicians would set the curriculum. We could focus less on basket weaving and more on math and science. Of course, those that believe the Flintstones was not a cartoon but a documentary would flip out but in the end our education needs would be highly focused.
2) When you move and have to take your kids out of one school and put them in another ... they wouldn't miss a beat. Since all schools would be the same they would just pick up where they left off. No hassles with classes not being available and no problems with credits that don't match, etc.
3) Schools would now be federal property. Good luck committing a crime there because its now on a federal level. There is no way your uncle ... who is the constable ... can get you out of this one. Pedophiles and drug dealers beware!
4) The taxes you pay locally would now go the the feds. The only thing different is who gets the money ... but either way you pay whether you want to or not. Nothing much changes here.
5) Teachers will have a standards set on their performance. No more individual state licenses with varying degrees of competency. Much tougher background checks as well. This is a Win Win.
As long as we keep clinging to the past ... as long as we let local level politicians control education ... we will lose. Time for a change.
Having worked for Apple in my life in Cupertino and Austin, I appreciate Apple making the effort to on-shore jobs. If its viable they will do it. Many should note that Apple started in Cupertino and was USA made for many years. All manufactures are global using global parts providers. I am proud of Apple senior management for taking this step. Apple support,design and employees are world class. If you have an early such as a MAC 512k open it up and look inside the shell. You will see the pride of made in america.
"DW Fields- It appears to me that every technology either one of those platforms has in one way or another was seen on an Apple device first."
You mean like 4G and texting and voicemail and color screens and ring tones and stuff....??? No one ever sent a text before iPhone was invented? Maybe Apple invented the mobile phone, too...?
What about DELL Computers? Based in Texas, they employ 16,000 US workers, and are very environmentally conscious. I would take a DELL any day before an overpriced Mac.
The company assembles computers at FoxConn facilities in China and Mexico. Both have been cited for substandard quality, violation of labor laws, (including child labor, allegedly), and bribery.
With that said, Dell is also considering bringing back some of its supply chain and assembly to the U.S.
First, I want to complement Mr. Cook on what he said. It is a start and time will tell if this is just a PR stunt to jack up the stock price or if he is really committed to the notion of bringing Tech manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.
Second, the most likely candidate is the Imac and Mac pro. The reason is that according to most independent studies Windows PC sales (notebook and desktop) are down about 10%. Mac pc (notebook and desktop) sales are flat. So, moving these to America for assembly would not dramatically hit the profit margin.
I expect both tablets, Iphones and Ipads to still be manufactured in China.
In the spirit of goodwill, I would urge both parties to make the following offer to Tech companies (all companies) Bring your money home and you will receive a one-time tax holiday and build your product, have all you call centers in the U.S. then the Government will provide stimulus money to re-train workers. I'll pit the American worker against any workforce in the world. This is how you do stimulus spending. You choose areas where the pay-off is long-term not short-term and the benefit of the re-training of the American Worker who do these jobs will not only stabilize our manufacturing sector but also add thousands of jobs to our economy which will help with the deficit and provide a firmer foundation for Social Security and Medicare.
Third- This applies to a lot of companies. The time has come for all Americans including companies to pull together. If we do, our children will have a bright future. I have faith that if America does come together including companies and put the nation's interest first, there is no country that can compete against us. China can produce all the engineers they want but they can't make the innovation and ingenuity of America.
Fourth- The time has come for All companies to pay their share of local, state and federal taxes. So as part of this, All companies will run their sales through states that charge a state corporate income tax. This extra money will benefit companies in the long-run by using the money to improve education and give All Americans a chance to make, for themselves, a better life. Making business decisions that also benefit the less fortunate is also just good business.
Fifth- I would ask Mr. Cook to open the walled garden and if he does Apple sales will soar. A closed ecosystem works in the short-term but not long-term.
Finally, Will I buy an Apple Product? NO. Not at this point. My computing needs are such that I have both my notebook and desktop custom built. but Mr. Cook's comments are a start. Now we have to wait and see if they truly follow though.
I think this is a publicity stunt, and once again Apple is not the first company to do this. People act like every decision they make is a game changer or original, they usually are not. They did not invent the smart phone or touch screen phone, the mp3 player, etc.
That being said....
I applaud them for this, whatever the reason. Good job!
Apple is generally behind the curve, only adding things to their line after they've already been proven in the field.
This is definitely a step in the right direction. The vehicle you drive is probably "assembled" in the US with parts from all over the globe. This happens with many things we use everyday. It's hard to find a television made in the US & most everyone has one of those. Another big reason why electronics are made in China is the rare earths they possess. They put a large tariff on these if they are exported. Since these are used in everything with a screen, then companies chose to manufacture in China rather than paying the tariff. Now that they're making a profit maybe this isn't as much of an issue anymore.
I think this is an excellent way to improve the economy in the USA and I would personally like to recommend Hill City, Minnesota as the right spot to locate this plant. We have a very large unfinished building just waiting for a buyer. Beautiful community, excellent school, lakes, hiking, golf course, and affordble housing. Not to mention a close by community that supports a hospital, community college, big box stores, and airport. CHECK US OUT. You would be pleased and what's more, be able to make Hill City a Happy Town. Thanks
In fact, the supply chain, parts procurement and parts build will be almost wholly contained with North America, in time. This I know. It's as much to ensure quality and avoid disasters like the flooding in Thailand last year that prevented hard drives and other critical computer components from making it to assembly sites.
Apple is finally doing something right, and something that Americans can take pride in.
@Roger.. Tim Cook says poor skill set in the US and a failing education system. There are key parts made here in the US. By the way where was your PC made? US? or for the matter the clothes on your back.. I believe Apple is in the right path.