Back in the U.S.A.
On NBC tonight, Tim Cook will be talking to Rock Center about his first year in charge of Apple. One of the pre-released snippets of news is that Apple plans to bring more Mac production back home during 2013. That could help create more jobs via factories, improve Apple's sales by replacing the "designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China" with "Made in America" tags and perhaps reduce costs.
Apple wouldn't be doing this if there wasn't some cost benefit to it, and it might also bring some of the company's taxes back to America. That could help it dodge any future accusations of tax avoidance, which are being increasingly discussed among debt-laden government. Read more about Cook's appearance here.
UPDATE: View the whole interview here.
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While some Macs are currently built at Apple's facilities in the U.S., the majority come from Quanta or Foxconn factories in China. Despite this, many components come from America, and a local factory would save shipping them around the world in part and then completed form.
Apple is already a massive U.S. OEM for mobiles, and this could help it increase its numbers in the computing sector, even as the company focuses on its wider global consumer audience.
When the Mac Comes Back
Of course, Apple's lead manufacturing partner, Foxconn has recently said that it will open a factory in America, which means Apple might not be taking all of the manufacturing back under its own name. Mac sales now make up around 14% of Apple's revenue, selling around 4.0 million units a quarter, with MacBook Pro or Air devices making up around 75% of that number.
Another possible benefit is that wherever the factory is located, and whoever runs it, Apple may be able to tighten security which has plagued Apple's recent launches with images coming out of Chinese factories. Cook also dropped another hint at the Apple TV which may or may not appear in 2013, with the iPhone and iPad maturing fast will this be Apple's future?