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'm Australian, funny that lots of you Americans have lost your sense of nationalism and pride.
LET'S DO IT...AUSTRALIA WILL SUPPLY THE USA WITH OUR MINERALS AND
INGENUITY... 'ASSEMBLED IN AMERICA, SOURCED FROM AUSTRALIA...
It will be the Mac Pro.
Why? Because Apple has let the Mac Pro lineup languish and has been slow to upgrade it. They want to kill it off and become just a consumer gadget company. They will built it here which will raise the price and only give it a slight update so it won't be worth buying anyway.
Then when the even more expensive and even less competitive Mac Pro sales numbers plummet to nothing they will kill it off and claim that the reason was no one wanted a compute with internal expansion anymore.
It sounds about right. Check this out. I worked for Commodore at (Boot Rd)West Chester, PA.
The type of BS he's spinning usually means that he will set up a multi-billion dollar shop out in the boonies, then staff it with foreign H-1XX visa workers, pay them next to nothing, and offer positions that won't pay enough for most people to get there. I've seen it so many times. Remember HP? Their Del plant(chrome and glass) was out in the middle of a cornfield. Yeah, they couldn't find skilled workers. Another excuse to not hire minorities! Non live within 30mi!
Either way, he' out to jerk us around. Why is he acting like he's about something?
Still won't buy a Mac. Overpriced piece of technology where you pay for a name and a OS.
Hackintosh all the way, baby!
Apple will lose its shirt on this product line. Americans refuse to stop shopping at Walmart, even though they have been told 1000 times it sells only foreign made products and pushes prices down so low that nobody wants to be forced to sell their stuff there.
Look in the parking lot of any store or mall. 2/3 of the cars are foreign made or foreign owed. Even Chevrolet employees drive Toyotas. People have screamed this line since the early 80's.
Apple really expects a bunch of people to start buying a computer just because it is assembled here. I wonder how many of you who posted above and claim to 'save up' and buy one will be saving up that money by having a $199 a month Kia in your driveway.
You don't have to wait for Apple, start buying American Made TODAY!!! Force Apple and other companies to return manufacturing here on your terms not their's.
"Force Apple and other companies to return manufacturing here" - Force and freedom are diametrically opposed concepts. Are you against freedom?
I drive a Ford made in Kansas.
it is about time
I have worked for the 'BIG BLUE' (IBM) fr. IBM Philippines (1969-1979), then migrated to AUSTRALIA (IBM AUSTRALIA -1979-1992).. Those were my good working years.... AND I ENJOYED IT. My employment at IBM supported my family and now far better in our 'NEW HOMELAND'
IBM IS AMERICAN AS IT WILL ALWAYS BE... NOW... Mr. OBAMA GET IBM TO START MAKING IBM AMERICAN, BE KNOW AS TRULY AMERICAN....
AUSTRALIANS WILL PARTNER WITH AMERICANS..Ben Indolos
I'd bet they will be built in a "right to work" state. There is nothing wrong with US manufacturing, it is the unions that are the problem.
Unions only make up 13% of the workforce and not all in manufacturing, stop blaming the unions, if it weren't for the Unions, good and bad. There wouldn't have been a middle class. Middle Class wages have stagnated for 3 decades while corporate profiteering and job out-sourcing have skyrocketed to new heights, not because of Unions per se, because cheap labor and the bottom line is the name of the game.
But Fox News tells me they're bad, and Fox News tells me it's the only source for Fair and Balanced coverage, therefore they can't be wrong because I saw it on Fox News!
Exactly, manufacturing all moved offshore because the greedy union workers wouldn't work for 50 cents an hour, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Tim Cook is a jerk and how dare he insult PA like that. Where the hell did he think MAC's came from? He seems to forget that Commodore has been struggleing for years. The Amiga(probably one of the best ever made), which was so far ahead of it's time, that so few people needed such an advanced machine, and it's still the top of it's market. Have you heard of VIDEO TOASTER?
The type of BS he's spinning usually means that he will set up a multi-billion dollar shop out in the boonies, then staff it with foreign H-1XX visa workers, pay them next to nothing, and offer positions that won't pay enough for most people to get there. I've seen it so many times. Remember HP? Their Del plant(chrome and glass) was out in the middle of a cornfield. Yeah, they couldn't find skilled workers. Another excuse to not hire minorities! Non live within 30mi!
I had an Atari 800 computer. Designed by Jay Miner, who also designed the Amiga.
I wanted an Amiga really bad.
Another reason to like Apple products!
What I would like to know more about is the comment he made. "Cook said he believes the U.S. education system is failing to produce enough people with the skills needed for modern manufacturing processes". What kind of skill do these Chinese girls have that are 16-17 years old that any of our people here don't have? I have built many PC's myself and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to assemble one. So that is a wrong. As for the school systems failing, keep that in mind congress when you want to cut funding for schools! We are falling behind and soon will only be able to look at the south side of a north bound donkey as far as the world goes! Get it?
Intel planned a chip plant in Ft Worth. The bought the land and started working with Tarrant County Junior College system to train workers for those manufacturing jobs.
They changed their minds. It's cheaper to do it offshore. They never built anything on the land they bought.
A chip plant is way different than a computer assembly plant. To make chips you need a clean room not to mention it is mostly automated with people doing quality control. That type of plant would require people with college degrees, not just a job prep at a community college. Evidently they didn't want to pay people what was required here! That is all that it comes down to. Just like the republicans last week. They wanted to pass some kind of immigration reform where they would allow people with advanced degrees in but not others. All that does is drive down wages for those here who have the same education level and puts our people here at a disadvantage as to getting these jobs. Wrong direction if you ask me! My wife is a PhD and she has told me several times of people comming from China with an equal degree and they will work for much less than what an American person would.
I will definitely switch to Apple when this happens. I have had quite a few issues with my last Dell's.
they all suck, get it? Dell, HP, Sony, eMachine, Acer, etc. They are pieces of crap wrapped in glossy plastic to appeal to the mindless. they Really all do suck. I fix them everday. Apple on the otherhand, is something different. You know at first sight it is going to be much different from using a Dell or hp or anything else, etc etc. The most obvious is the appearance. My imac is aluminum and glass. Not plastic and pot metal. And that is just the beginning.
Apple truly is a special brand. Now what are they doing? Going to let lazy unionized Americans build a line of apples? Heaven help us!
Move to China then As$Hole.
Its a start, will wait and see if Cook is a man of his word. Made in America, will definitely purchase one, still made in China, absolutely not.
I believe as long as we also make our own products there is nothing wrong with outsourcing manufacturing and for other countries to bring their corporations here.
I want Brian to follow-up along these lines: Could you be more specific about the skills you say Americans lack to support electronics manufacturing? Is Apple playing an activist-enough role in U.S. education? It seems that, if young people knew they could get jobs at Apple by studying X, Y and Z, they would close the gap. Is Apple willing to ask U.S. students workers to develop the skillbase you need?
I will only get an apple if I do well with my android programming and want to start porting. I have no use for a company that has to do everything "their" way when the rest of the world has standards: like micro USB for one. Remember when the world went routable IP and apple had to be tunneled? No thank you.
But to be on topic, I do think this is a good start and I hope they actually do hire Americans and not H1s.
Peace, Myst
Everything Apple should be PRODUCED and ASSEMBLED in the U.S.
I like how things are always twisted to what people WANT to here. Tim Cook said one of our Mac lines, NOT our entire line of Macs that we are seeing published.
Is it going to be like the Auto Industry. "Assembled In America".
I can't believe this idiot said that America does not have the skills to build the Mac!
He is full of cr*p and I am glad I do not own any Mac products. He can go live in China if he thinks they are better than us. I work at a manufacturing facility and I would stack up our employees against any in the world!
If the workers manufacturing these products in China are so skilled, why are their wages so low? I realize this may seem like a silly question to some, but this is the part of the story that I really do not get . . .
They're skilled at eeking out a living on slave wages.
Oh no! This seams like good news on the surface, but the reality of it is that whichever line they manufacture here in the USA will suffer, may even fail. American workers have a false sense of entiltlement. Heaven forbid the union should be involved. Poor apple, where is this going? I have every current product Apple sells, except for an ipod, because I have an iPhone. Lets pray that apple doesn't suffer over this. The price point on their products is already high, so image what it will be. This is truly not good news for apple fans. Lets pray, everyone. Steve is rolling in his grave. Gawd we miss him. This new CEO wouldn't know vision if it bit him on the arse.
Then move your A$s to another country. We do not want or need you here.
It is all about money. While we may have problems with education (no longer in top 20), we are a country of 300 million with 9% unemployment, and certainly could fill all the jobs makiing all the apple products. even if the jobs only pay $15 an hour, Apple would still be expected to provide some sort of health care. Probably at a cost of $900 (if the employee contributed) for an employee with a family of 4. China has state run health care, ( like all other modern countries). $900 is a week and half of a $15 aan hour employee that really drives the cost up. we need to really look at this if we are to succeed in the future.
How dare a company be responsible for the health and well being of the lemmings upon whose back their empire was built.
We are number 1 in the only educational statistic that really matters. We produce more college graduates than the rest of the world by a fairly large margin. 20% of all the world's college graduates are American. The next closest country is China with 11%. Those rankings based on test scores that make you think we should really care how kids in Singapore score miss the point. Singapore may score higher on average, but the United States buries them in numbers.
Have you forgotten the quality v. quantity argument? Sure, we might be turning out college graduates like it's our job, but what are they majoring in? 10,000 Liberal Arts degrees from Brown University can't hold a candle to 10 Engineering degrees from Oxford.
The United States also leads technically. MIT hasn't closed down.
Sure we have the advantage of numbers, but that is precisely why it's wrong to look purely at average test scores. Which, by the way, is math. The average bumble bee might be able to harvest more pollen and nectar, but the more plentiful honey bees will still kick their little butts. Nobody is going to start installing bumble bee hives to pollinate their crops.
"Cook said he believes the U.S. education system is failing to produce enough people with the skills needed for modern manufacturing processes."
What an incredible crock of *@%!. The reason you are producing things in China has nothing to do with know-how or manufacturing processes, and everything to do with labor costs.
"We've been working for years on doing more and more in the United States," Cook told Williams."
the simple truth is Tim Cook has been working overtime since 1997, in outsourcing more APPLE manufacturing FROM the USA to countries that employ slave labor at a $1 a day wages!
admit it when you buy a Apple product , you put rice in a bowl for some slave laborer so he can make more Apples!
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.
That is BS. you don't need highly educated people to work in manufacturing. That is why it is called blue collar. No offense to manufacturing workers but it is just them making excuses in order to keep building it in China. Like education in China is better. I am a software developer and the worst developers come from ASIA!!! They are STUPID!!!
Steve Jobs, Apple's late CEO, brought the issue up during an October 2010 meeting with President Obama. He called America's lackluster education system an obstacle for Apple, which needed 30,000 industrial engineers to support its on-site factory workers.
another BS point. No Mr. Jobs you cannot find 30,000 industrial engineers you can pay a dollar a day in the US. speak the truth.
More lies from Apple.
Who do you think is telling Foxxcon how to manufacture iphones and ipad? Chinese manufacturing engineers?
Nope.