AppleInsider Staff
Apple has given local media a rare look inside its European headquarters in Cork, Ireland, where workers assemble iMacs for the Old Continent and provide sales and support services to customers in Europe.
The Cupertino, Calif. company now has around 4,000 workers at the Cork facility, according to the Irish Examiner. When Apple first came to Cork in 1980 — Â with Steve Jobs and Mike Markkula in attendance — Â it employed just 60 workers at the plant, which was then dedicated solely to manufacturing.
Today, the Cork location is the only Apple-owned factory in the world. The company shut down most of its own manufacturing facilities in the early 1990s, switching to an outsourced assembly model instead.
In addition to the iMac line, Cork-based employees handle administration for Apple operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. One photo shows a worker providing FaceTime support services to a European customer, with a Canon camera connected to a Mac Mini.
Apple's close relationship with Ireland is under scrutiny by the European Commission, which alleges that the company's customized tax agreement runs afoul of EU laws. An initial judgement was expected in June, but has been delayed as discovery proves "time consuming."
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7 Comments
They didn't switch until later than that; in the early '90s they still had plants in Colorado (PowerBooks) and Fremont (Quadras/Power Macs), and even as late as the Quicksilver G4's were still saying "Assembled in USA". Lower end consumer models went to Singapore in the late '80s though.
Do they build just the 27" iMacs there, the same as here?
So I guess, since the EU doesn't like the Apple Ireland deal these days. It's just so unfair, that the people in Ireland will lose most of their Jobs with Apple which will go to China and the prices on Apple hardware will go up!!! If that's whey they all, want, then that's what they will get. If there's no longer any benefit to be in Ireland, then there's no reason to stay in Ireland!!! Maybe a few Customer support jobs will stick around. That's kind of to bad. The EU is even worse then the U.S. when it comes to driving business away from your country!!! So nothing really new here.
ok, we believe it. apple DOES have offices in Ireland.
http://************/2014/09/30/apple-ireland-tax/
Lets hope Apple can stand up to the EU.
European & American workers are highly employable.
> An initial judgement was expected in June, but has been delayed as discovery proves "time consuming." Substitute "discovery" with "fabrication".