As Apple broke ground at its newest campus in Austin, Texas, CEO Tim Cook spoke with ABC News.
Cook said he’s “proud” to build the new MacPro [sic] in America at the highly anticipated new Austin campus [sic] [recte At Apple supplier Flex Ltd.’s assembly plant in Austin], though he admitted it’s unlikely iPhones ever will be produced in the U.S.
“We are really proud to make the MacPro [sic] here — this computer is our most powerful computer we’ve ever made, by far,” Cook said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis on Wednesday. “It performs over 50 trillion tasks per second. I mean, this is just mind-blowing.”
Apple just broke ground on its $1 billion campus in Austin. The facility is expected to open in 2022 with about 5,000 employees, but it will have the capacity for about 15,000.
President Donald Trump flew to Austin Wednesday to visit the new facility.
“I don’t believe in having people talk on my behalf,” Cook said of his conversations with the president. “I don’t believe in lobbyists. I believe in direct conversation. I strongly believe in engagement. I hate polarization. I despise it.”
The Apple chief said that he doesn’t want to “speculate” on how the next round of China tariffs could raise the price of iPhones.
“I’m hoping that the U.S. and China come to an agreement, and so I don’t even want to go down that road right now,” Cook said. “I’m so convinced that it’s in the best interest of the U.S. and best interest of China, and so if you have two parties where there’s a common best interest there has got to be some kind of path forward here. And I think that will happen.”
MacDailyNews Take: Also a nice ad for Apple’s new Apple Watch Series 5 with its Always-On Retina display!
Welcome to the club, Tim. Tell the media and the dem to stop engaging in identity, intersectional and divisional politics faux social outrage journalism.
got brain?!
“I hate polarization. I despise it.”
Who knew Tim was a hater?
Tim sounds very polarized about polarization. It’s like the polar opposite of what Tim Cook should stand for. Poles apart. Pole jumping the shark. Poles from Poland. A Polish polishing machine from Germany. Don’t mention the war. Or the gays.
I LOVE that comment. “We look at skill, not show me that thing on your wall”
If only more people realized how, in many cases ( not all ), degrees end up as a good way to waste fancy paper.
Although I’ve been through the higher education system… I’ve always disagreed with calling it higher education. It should be considered “alternative education” because it’s only ONE alternative in a variety of skillsets.
Tim Cook: ‘I hate polarization. I despise it.’ I guess he wasn’t taking about the polarization he caused between the people who used to be able to afford a Mac Pro and the few that can afford the new Mac Pro.
Apple announced a new Mac Pro in 2009. Prices began at $2499, which is $2991 when adjusted for inflation. The Mac Pro was never marketed to casual users. Those that need them can deduct them from earnings as a capital expenditure, making the list price less relevant.
Capital Expenditure is great but who has the “capital“ to make the jump from a $2991.00 (adjusted for inflation) base Mac Pro to a $5999.00 base Mac Pro. And I’m not a casual user. I bought my first Power Mac G4 in 1999.
True, there’s inflation. But this is technology and its prices have never followed the CPI.
Case in point … my Apple ][+ system cost me $5K back in 1980…if we use a CPI calculator, that would mean that a basic desktop should cost $15,000.
Oh, and even if IT did faithfully follow the CPI, the last of the cheese graters in 2012 started at $2499 … which in 2019 dollars would be only $2,751.32
Tim’s proclamation a few yrs ago to look for another stock investment if one didn’t like his political advocacy, was more than a little polarizing. It was the first time I realized the days of Steve Jobs walking politically “silent” were gone. He knew customers and stockholders graced both/all sides of the isle and acted accordingly in consideration of all and, effectively his way served to protect the company. His “soapbox” was the products and the excellence they exuded.
I guess Tim is ok with polarization, if it’s caused by things he values? This is the worst kind of social warriorism. Nothing but hypocritical.
Steve Jobs was never silent. Everyone knew his political views and the corporate culture reflected them. He advised keeping out of partisan politics, and Tim Cook has followed that advice, as the visit to Austin proved.
Practically speaking he was silent. He was a human, therefore he spoke about his beliefs—please forgive me for being absolute—but never in a politically polarizing way to the public.
The difference between the two is clear and if one tries to put them in the same box in this realm, that person is trying to squeeze water out of a rock at worst and disingenuous at least.
Steve never came anywhere and I mean it absolutely, anywhere near saying to customers/stockholders, go find another way, if you don’t like my mine.
I never said Tim was a business idiot…which he would have been by refusing to meet Trump in Austin. As you are often prone, your last statement is just pure conflation. It serves no point of association to the point. You might as well use speaking to the Chinese Premier to serve the same logic.
The Flex plant and adjacent existing Apple facilities, like the new Apple site just up the road, are in Williamson County, Texas. In 1993, Apple first proposed building in that county, which is widely regarded as one of the most conservative in the state. The company and county government got into a huge dispute over Apple’s policy of treating married and gay couples the same for benefits (and all other) purposes.
That policy was adopted by Steve Jobs when doing so was profoundly “politically polarizing to the public.” Resolution of the dispute required the personal intervention of Governor Richards, who was interrupted in the shower by calls from the county commissioners. Apple never wavered in its support for what might be regarded as SJW principles that had incensed much of the local public.
Tim Cook did not create the Apple corporate culture. Steve Jobs did.
Another conflation…you have that propensity.
To say Steve created the culture to prove your point implies the “culture” is static is remains as Steve left it. The “offspring” may have the parent’s DNA, but they’re are different beings…esp when the conversation centers around a person like Steve Jobs.
The point of the article and my response was focused on Tim’s hate for polarization and I used a distinct example. The situation I spoke of was polarizing and his comments supported the fact (“find another stock”), he knew it was polarizing. To then say this week he hated polarization, embodied hypocrisy in reference.
Ronner, I was not responding to the claim that Tim Cook is polarizing. He clearly is, among some portions of the American public.
I was responding to the claim that Steve Jobs was apolitical. He was not. He repeatedly took strong political stands on issues that you would call “woke” or “SJW.” The claim that he eschewed politics is repeated on this site almost as often as the claim that he was a perfectionist (true) who never got anything wrong (false).
Apple’s political commitment has changed over time (what hasn’t?) but the support for libturd/progressive causes has been a constant since the company’s founding. As Cook said, those who cannot accept Apple as it is should look elsewhere for a company more to their liking.
Polarization is the state of American Politics, now and forever (Dems and Repubs will never ever get along again) Get with it or over it. I just ignore it.
1 + 1 = 3 ???? WTF?
In other words, Tim is looking for people who, when they join a team, help make the team more than the sum of its parts – in other words, to add synergy to the team. In this way, 1 + 1 is certainly more than 2. (I understand that his statement. Is confusing from the point of view of an engineer, but from the point of view of management science it makes perfect sense.)