Apple Inc. (AAPL) Bringing Mac Production To US In 2013: Tim Cook

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Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has announced that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will be spending $100 million to bring production of its Mac computers back to the US.

In an interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek that was published today, Cook revealed the company’s plans to shift a small proportion of their manufacturing back to the US. The majority of Apple’s products have been made in China for a number of years.

When asked about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) bringing manufacturing back to the US, Cook said: “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,” he said.

Cook also revealed the company’s plans to invest over $100 million, and also added that they will be “working with people and we’ll be investing our money.”

Until the late 1990’s, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) made and assembled their products in the US, but moved their production operations to Asia due to the region’s lower labor costs. Although the $100 million investment will hardly make a dent in the company’s $121.3 billion in cash, it does reflect public pressure to make domestic jobs, especially with the economy still suffering from the 2009 recession and unemployment around the eight percent mark.

On the responsibility of the company to be patriotic, good for the country, and to create jobs, Cook said:  “I think we do have a responsibility to create jobs. I think we have a responsibility to give back to the communities, to pick ways that we can do that … and not just in the U.S., but abroad as well. I think we have a responsibility to make products that have a greater good in them.”

Although Cook did not outline when the move of manufacturing to the US would take place, it was revealed that only one of the Apple products will be manufactured domestically. In its typical style, Apple is being vague about which one; leaving the market guessing.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s shares dropped by 2.9 percent earlier today to $523.32 – the largest decline in almost four years, following fears that Apple may lose ground in Smartphones to the Nokia Oyj in China, while also giving up some of its tablet market share to Google. The Nokia Lumia, carrying Microsoft’s Windows 8 system, also remains a competitor to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), whose iPhone is struggling to secure high sales in Asian markets.

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