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Apple CEO Tim Cook talks Forstall, privacy, and making Macs in the USA

Cook offers more insight into the inner workings of Apple.

Apple CEO Tim Cook talks Forstall, privacy, and making Macs in the USA
NBC / Apple

One major thing that's slowly but surely changing at Apple is its CEO's willingness to be more transparent with the press. On Thursday, the embargo lifted on a number of interviews with Apple CEO Tim Cook in which he discussed Steve Jobs' influence, how the creative "process" at Apple works, and the ousted Scott Forstall. One of the most notable details to come out was Cook's announcement that the company will begin manufacturing some of its Macs in the US starting in 2013. Cook also offered more details on how Apple "screwed up" its new version of Maps.

Cook told NBC News, as well as Bloomberg BusinessWeek, about the company's decision to begin manufacturing some Macs in the US next year. In both interviews, Cook was asked about what it would take for Apple to manufacture more of its products in the US; Cook responded by pointing out that the iPhone's processor and glass are made in Texas and Kentucky, respectively. But he went on to say that the company would "bring some" of its Mac production to the US in 2013, exciting those who have kept an eye on Apple's supply chain. (Take that, wish list haters!)

"We’ve been working on this for a long time, and we were getting closer to it. It will happen in 2013," Cook told BusinessWeek. "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."

The revelation comes just days after some new iMac buyers began discovering that their machines sport an "Assembled in USA" stamp on the back. It's not an entirely new phenomenon, as Apple's build-to-order machines are often assembled in the US, but this seems to be the first time US-assembled, standard-configuration machines have begun appearing in people's homes.

A more extensive interview from NBC will air tonight, but BusinessWeek already has 11 pages of other juicy tidbits from Cook. In the interview, Cook briefly talks about having to adjust to being a "famous" public figure after being a private person for so long. "[It] has been a bit of adjustment for me, because for years I had the privilege of being anonymous. There is a great privilege in that if you’re a private person. So it’s a bit different," Cook told BusinessWeek.

But Cook says he also has great appreciation for his position at Apple, because he gets to hear so much feedback from dedicated users that other CEOs rarely receive. He described his first day at Apple when he had to cross a picket line of angry Newton users whose favorite product had just been killed by Jobs—the users cared more deeply about the product than he was used to seeing, which impressed him. "You know, I have been involved in hundreds of new product announcements, hundreds of product withdrawals. At one of the companies I worked at, not to mention any names, we’d put [new products] in the lobby. We’d get on the employee intercom system and say, 'Come look at them,' and nobody came. They didn't even care," Cook said.

Cook also went into detail about the creative process at Apple—or lack thereof, as the case may be. Although the company's head executives hold regular—and lengthy—meetings to discuss every product, Cook said they expect every single employee at Apple to be innovative:

"So just to be clear, I wouldn't call that a process. Creativity and innovation are something you can’t flowchart out. Some things you can, and we do, and we’re very disciplined in those areas. But creativity isn't one of those. A lot of companies have innovation departments, and this is always a sign that something is wrong when you have a VP of innovation or something. You know, put a for-sale sign on the door."

The recent departure of iOS software head Scott Forestall and retail head John Browett also came up, with Cook issuing a carefully even-handed comment about the value of collaboration at Apple. Based on inside reports about Forstall's relations with other executives, it sounds as if he was more the head-butting type than the collaborative type—a trait that ultimately made him a poor fit for Cook's Apple.

Regarding iOS 6's Maps, which saw a poor public reception that prompted a public apology from Cook earlier this year, Cook emphasized that Apple simply "screwed up" in its attempt to offer a good customer experience. Cutting off its mapping relationship with Google was supposedly not the main reason for moving forward with its own version of Maps—Cook said Apple had a number of new features in mind that could only be done internally, and it just didn't turn out well upon first release.

"So what are we doing? We’re putting all of our energy into making it right. And we have already had several software updates. We’ve got a huge plan to make it even better. It will get better and better over time. But it wasn't a matter that we… decided strategy over customers. We screwed up. That’s the fact," Cook said.

Both interviews touch on plenty of other details about the inner workings of Apple, Cook's relationship with Terry Gou at Foxconn, Apple's attitude about being a "patriotic" company, the purpose of Apple's investment firm—Braeburn Capital—and more. We'll be watching the NBC interview when it airs tonight and report back with some notes about any additional highlights that weren't discussed by BusinessWeek.

Channel Ars Technica