Apple CEO Tim Cook Calls For Unity in Memo to Staff Following Trump Victory

[Night Spring]

I mean no disrespect to my elders, but I am not sure I agree with your statement. This country has not seen any peace - mostly because it sticks its nose in everyone's business - since WW2. Just to remind you of all the wars since WW2 -

• Korea
• Vietnam
• Grenada
• Bosnia
• Lebanon
• Iraq
• Iraq again
• Afghanistan

And that does not include the proxy wars in south america and africa.
.

You are right that there has been some sort of armed conflict somewhere in the world almost continuously since the end of WWII, and that US have been involved with most of them. But the scale of those conflicts haven't been anywhere near the all-out scale of the world wars.

 

[hudson1]

We have to look at these problems realistically, while considering the realities of economics, culture, and infrastructure.

You want to help American workers? Vote for politicians who believe in science and want to promote universal access to quality education, among other things. Vote for politicians who want to make billionaires and corporations pay their fair share of taxes in the US.

In my previous post I outlined several hypothetical scenarios for Apple manufacturing products in the US and the reasons why I feel they are untenable. if you disagree, feel free to provide counterarguments that go beyond magical and wishful thinking.

Can you define "fair share"? One thing I know is none of us, including you and me, must be paying our fair share which is why we have a budget deficit. How much more are you willing to pay?

 

[Bacillus]

Super communicater TC (by his own standards) didn't get Trump's message.
Keep some of the cultural background, employment and wealth of an US-inspired, US-founded company in the US. Globalisation and extreme financial engineering don't serve anyone on the long term if the core values are being affected. If that's too complicated for a CEO, he should leave.

 

[Hirakata]

It simply amazes me how many people here seem to know what's best for everyone else...

 

[Night Spring]

Also you are the one trying to prove a negative here -- that somethign can't be done. So since you are the brilliant numbers guy why don't you give me some emprical evidence that a company can produce iPhones in China but not in the U.S.

I think in order to manufacture iPhones in the US in the same numbers as in China, you'd need to round up all the unemployed people and move them to one or two central locations. Then you'd need to train them to do the work -- coal miners and steel workers aren't going to have the kind of skill needed to put together iPhones. But assuming they are willing and capable of learning new skills, would they be willing to move?

 

[jimbobb24]

I wonder if he would have sent the email if Hillary won. Just like all the colleges having lectures to help people adapt and deal with it today. Only one side seems to need emotional support dealing with defeat. Hilarious.

So - the candidates were that different huh? Both want trade barriers. Both want bigger government solutions. Both super rich. Both support abortion. If you lean left you had essentially two democrats running, one just put an R next to their name for a little while. You should celebrate the nation has moved that far in your direction, not feel left out.

 

[Aluminum213]

People like you, if there are any among Apple's employees, are the reason for this memo.


People like you, if there are any among Apple's employees, are the reason for this memo.

people like me? you mean American voters?

 

[jimbobb24]

So because they're the largest company in the world, they're suddenly supposed to be manufacturing experts?

The reason iPhones aren't made in America is simple: Americans sucks at manufacturing. They have for years.

This is not true.

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Industry/Manufacturing-output

The US is Number 1. I know - data not political bloviation, crazy. We have a shrinking manufacturing employment sector. That is super complicated and too much for here. But we manufacture amazing amounts of stuff.

 

[thekeyring]

Didn't Trump say something along the lines of "when guns are illegal, only the bad guys have guns" - he must know that the same is true of encryption? Anyway, I'm more interested to see what happens if he passes the 45% charge on Chinese imports.

 

[pondosinatra]

Everyone is losing their minds because you guys elected an old, rich, White guy? Ya, cause that's never happened before...

 

[Rogifan]

Or maybe the majority of people do, hence she won the popular vote. Not anyone's fault we still employ an 18th century protection against illiterate voters. We have, essentially, 100% literacy in this country.

And California surviving on its own? It's the worlds 6th largest economy and is entirely self-sufficient. They'll do quite fine.

Good let them go. Take out California from the popular vote total and Trump had 2.2M more votes than Clinton. Take out New York as well and that number climbs to 3.8M. Compare that to 2012 where when you take out California Obama still won the popular vote by 1.8M and if you California and New York he only lost it by 30K. Just shows what a crappy candidate Clinton was.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

Pass it on...

 

[jimbobb24]

As an outsider, you have little idea what the climate is like right now among the American public. We have just gone through one of the most ridiculous, embarrassing, and exhausting election cycles in history. It was anything but normal.

Come on - it was super good for the laughs. I mean, sure tears. But could our country be any more ridiculous than this election year. And yes, on both sides. The libertarian candidate even went out of way to say dumb stuff. Probably the only person who was not a clown (or if they were I did not hear about it) was Stein.

 

[AustinIllini]

This is not true.

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Industry/Manufacturing-output

The US is Number 1. I know - data not political bloviation, crazy. We have a shrinking manufacturing employment sector. That is super complicated and too much for here. But we manufacture amazing amounts of stuff.

You're making a bad argument. No one US manufacturer can reasonably hand the production of 72 million iPhones per year.

 

[thekeyring]

Timmy took 30 minutes away from doing real work, like improving the Mac line, to write a worthless letter.

I wonder if he sits in his office all day trying to justify his position.

Wow you guys really don't think much of him.

 

[Rogifan]

Why wouldn't California make it on their own? It's larger than many actual countries, it has Silcon Valley, it has agricultural areas, it has Hollywood. In fact, it might do better if it were an independent country and didn't have to pay federal taxes.

Good then. Let it go. Let's see how it does on its own.

 

[rizzo41999]

With all due respect, Jobs didn't let Bush stop him from creating the iPod and the iPhone..

 

[macduke]

I agree with the sentiment, but wishing for something doesn't make it any more realistic to do so. There's no way that Apple can manufacture products like the iPhone in the US. Our country long ago gave up its leadership in manufacturing and we simply don't have the capacity to produce most Apple products at the speeds, volumes, and quality levels Apple gets from companies in China. Even if Apple could magically teleport a Foxcon manufacturing facility to the US, I doubt many Americans would be willing to do that sort of work for that sort of pay. Conversely, if those hypothetical workers were paid decent wages, an iPhone would cost $2000.

What's simultaneously sad and hilarious is that yeah, many companies are going to start making their products in America again and no, the amount of jobs will not increase and possibly go down during Trump's term in office. Automation is picking up speed now and necessity is the mother of invention—if these companies are forced to bring their operations back home, then you can be certain that there will be a massive effort to replace human laborers with robots. At least the engineers and technicians get paid!

Just look no further than Apple's new robot named Liam that disassembles iPhone with incredible precision for recycling. You can bet they're working on robots that can completely assemble iPhone without any need for human interaction aside from occasional maintenance and repair. Even so, I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually have a robot that goes around fixing the robots. Then you look at other areas outside of manufacturing, such as all the truck drivers out there that will soon be replaced by self driving vehicles. They've even got a neural network AI working in a law office now, meaning you don't need someone to look up and compare the history of different case outcomes to present different strategies. Many low and some mid-level jobs will be replaced by either robots or AI in the coming years.

That comes back to an even bigger problem: A society that has more people than jobs. You could say ok, we become communist and everyone gets a basic income. Ok, but that doesn't solve anything if you know anything about human psychology. People need to feel like they're doing something or contributing in some way. That is going to be a big problem. They become more likely to turn to drugs, violence, suicide, etc. I've always been fond of the world portrayed in Star Trek, but that can never happen without a massive overhaul to education. You don't end up with that many scientists pushing humanity forward with our current education system.

 

[thekeyring]

Tim is right to be worried. While he will couch this as some sort of cockamamie social justice setback, he is really worried about Chinese manufacturering and Apple's offshore cash hoard. Trump isn't going to force Apple to bring jobs back to the US, but there may be a lot more Americans who are suddenly made aware of how Apple does business.

Might be new legislation that brings some of that cash back, diluting some executive bonuses and diluting dividend payouts. Who knows, perhaps shareholders will have access to more repatriated cash without resorting to the borrowing mechanism? Suddenly, anti corporate socialists have a friend in Trump!

At some point, it will be time to buy AAPL on the dip.

Why would he worry about the cash hoard? Trump wants to allow companies like Apple to bring it back to the US and pay only 10% tax. Surly Tim Cook wants this?

 

[bunnicula]

I think in order to manufacture iPhones in the US in the same numbers as in China, you'd need to round up all the unemployed people and move them to one or two central locations. Then you'd need to train them to do the work -- coal miners and steel workers aren't going to have the kind of skill needed to put together iPhones. But assuming they are willing and capable of learning new skills, would they be willing to move?

Or work for the wages that would be paid for people who took these jobs? Nope.

 

[Bacillus]

This is not true.

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Industry/Manufacturing-output

The US is Number 1. I know - data not political bloviation, crazy. We have a shrinking manufacturing employment sector. That is super complicated and too much for here. But we manufacture amazing amounts of stuff.

Cost/yield/complication factors are always in favor of cheaper countries (where outsourcing to Foxconn and alike safeguard Apple from its social duties).
But it counts for only $50 per device which Apple, making margins of $ hundreds, could easily afford. That's Trumps' message and Cook knows it very well, but doesn't want to fulfill.
And the moral cheaptalk has to distract the crowds from that.

 

[techwhiz]

The jobs issue is even harder to fix. There's no way Apple could manufacture iPhones or MacBooks in the US while maintaining the same level of quality and innovation and without substantially increasing their already high prices (which, in turn, would substantially reduce the volume of units sold and the company's overall financial performance).



Those who believe Trump is going to do anything to materially improve the lives of low and middle income workers are in for a rude awakening. But hey, this isn't anything new. Many gullible, low income Americans have been voting for Republican politicians for a long time.

Someone that actually thinks.
Republicans use divisive rhetoric when in reality the only thing they care about is money.
But now I say to those that voted for Trump and the republicans; stop talking about it and be about it.
It is easier to divide tan to unify.
It is easier to say no that the lead.
It is easier to criticize than to govern.

You have the house, the senate and POTUS; unify, lead and govern.
You say Obama did it wrong, okay go do it right and try not to wreck the country.

Remember 55% of the nation did not vote republican; Trump has an office, not a mandate.

But I'll say this, in four years:
1. When trickle down didn't work for the second time. (It did not work for Reagan.)
2. When health care is in an even worse mess. When you can't get healthcare because of pre-existing.
3. When the jobs don't come back.
4. When unemployment is higher than the peak of the last recession.
5. When the national debt is $25 Trillion

Remember - Trump said he could do it better.

 

[hudson1]

All CEOs play politics by hiring lobbyists. The only difference with Cook is that he puts his own neck on the line instead of hiding behind a corporation. You may not like that but I respect it even though I disagree with his politics in general. Or do you prefer he buys politicians with promises and suitcases full of money in secret without letters like this or speeches declaring his own values?

There's a very big difference between lobbying and playing politics. Lobbying is all about advancing and supporting legislation that helps your company. Playing politics is something quite different.

 

[tgwaste]

He forgot to finish it with " except Christians " ... we won't tolerate you at all.

The funny thing is he's probably jumping up-and-down for joy because if trumps tax policies go into place Apple wins YUGE.

 

[0098386]

I didn't vote for Trump but why do I get the feeling had Hillary won Tim Cook wouldn't have sent a letter like this to employees? Maybe people in the Bay Area need to wake up and realize not everyone thinks or votes like them? Or California could always secede and we'll see how it survives on its own. Scotland tried it, why not California?

Because she was the better candidate. Tim is gay like a lot of people, and Trump's VP is a guy who believes that gay can be prayed away - which leads to many many suicides.
So yeah I can see why non-straight folk are worried. Tim seeks to calm them and I agree with that. But it won't make me buy a new MBP... maybe a new iPhone if the next one is decent enough.