BusinessWeek has a long and fantastic interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook. The interview covers a wide variety of topics, including Cook’s leadership style, his discussions with Steve Jobs, and how Apple will innovate going forward. One portion of the interview that’s getting a lot of play is Cook’s revelation that Apple is investing $100-million to move some Mac production to the U.S. Here’s a quote:
Next year we are going to bring some production to the U.S. on the Mac. We’ve been working on this for a long time, and we were getting closer to it. It will happen in 2013. We’re really proud of it. We could have quickly maybe done just assembly, but it’s broader because we wanted to do something more substantial. So we’ll literally invest over $100 million. This doesn’t mean that Apple will do it ourselves, but we’ll be working with people, and we’ll be investing our money.
It’s cool to see a tremendously valuable and successful company like Apple do more to create jobs in the U.S. While the majority of Apple products will be assembled in China due to labor costs, the U.S. economy is in dire need of stimulation and this isn’t something Apple has to do. As an industry leader in technology and consumer electronics, I — perhaps naively — hope that other U.S.-based companies will follow Apple’s lead and try to bring more jobs back to America.
That particular issue aside, I highly recommend reading the entire interview. It’s 11 pages, but a very fascinating read. Cook is his own man and has already changed the culture of Apple (see charitable contributions, for example), but is very much against changing the spirit of the company. While few executives have the charm of Steve Jobs, Cook is certainly charming in his own way. Give it a read and let me know what you think when you have a chance (please).
