When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley’s top luminaries for
dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a
question for the president.
But as Steven P. Jobs of Apple spoke, President Obama
interrupted with an inquiry of his own: "What would it take to make iPhones in
the United States?
Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in
America. Today, few are. Almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads
and 59 million other products Apple sold last year were manufactured overseas.
Why can’t that work come home? Mr. Obama asked.
Mr. Jobs’s reply was unambiguous. “Those jobs aren’t coming
back,” he said, according to another dinner guest.
The president’s question touched upon a central conviction
at Apple. It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple’s
executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the
flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so
outpaced their American counterparts that “Made in the U.S.A.” is no longer a
viable option for most Apple products.
Apple has become one of the best-known, most admired and
most imitated companies on earth, in part through an unrelenting mastery of
global operations. Last year, it earned over $400,000 in profit per employee,
more than Goldman Sachs, Exxon Mobil or Google.
However, what has vexed Mr. Obama as well as economists and
policy makers is that Apple — and many of its high-technology peers — are not
nearly as avid in creating American jobs as other famous companies were in
their heydays.
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