Still won’t be Made in America, though.
It’s time to burn this mother down: Apple has unveiled a new iPhone.
Apple’s reveals are treated in some circles like Justin Bieber concerts or Papal visits: with giddy anticipation. This New York Times article does a good job explaining how the company encourages speculation about new products; it creates buzz, and interest, and has to take the good with the bad:
This rumor mill is both a gift to Apple and a burden, a sign that it has not lost its magic and a warning that everyone is on watch for the moment it does. No other company is tracked quite so relentlessly.
So what is it about the new iPhone that everyone’s upset about? It will no longer have a headphone jack.
Yes, you read that right: The iPhone of the future will use wireless headphones, which is probably a step closer to our Jetsons utopia, but will also probably require buying (at some point) wireless headphones from Apple.
Some Apple fans are bummed. Others are at peace with it. A lot of words have been written already, and they just officially announced this thing!
Look, if this is a bellwether move and it means all of the portable electronic devices I’ve got around the house will no longer have plugs for my headphones, I’ll manage. I’ve got no real connection to my headphones; I got the ones I use right now at a Radio Shack. No emotional bond there, is what I'm saying.
What will really get my attention is if Apple announces it will make more of its products in America again.
If the world’s most valuable company (or second most valuable, whatever) can find a market for a $770 computer that many of us will carry in our pants pockets, it can find a market that will pay an extra $50 or even $100 for an American-made one.
Imagine the ingenuity it would inject into the American economy if the stuff Silicon Valley comes up with was actually made in America, too. Imagine all of the skills that would be baked into our workforce if Apple manufactured here,which would in turn encourage its supply chain to follow it. Probably wouldn’t even have to put up nets around the factories.
So, to recap:
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No plug for headphones on the next iPhone? I’m indifferent.
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Apple doesn’t like to pay taxes anywhere? It’s kinda annoying, to be honest.
- Apple announcing to bring manufacturing back to America? Now you’ve got my attention.