How Apple has changed under Tim Cook...

Now it has been one year since the former of Apple Steve Jobs died and the president of the company is Tim Cook. 

Interview of Tim Cook on NBC

Cook told NBC that Apple isn't concerned about the higher cost of manufacturing in the United States creating pressure to raise prices. Apple assembled many of its products in the United States until the late 1990s, when it exported that work to Asia where labor costs are lower.

"It's not so much about price, it's about the skills, etc.," he told NBC's Williams. "Over time, there are skills that are associated with manufacturing that have left the United States. Not necessarily people, but the education system has just stopped producing that. It's a concerted effort to get them back."

Cook acknowledged to Businessweek that the move is influenced, at least in part, by a desire to bolster a U.S. unemployment rate that, while slowly rebounding, still hovers around 8%.

"I don't think we have a responsibility to create a certain kind of job," Cook said. "But I think we do have a responsibility to create jobs."

In both interviews, Cook emphasized American jobs Apple has already helped create -- from the companies that make components of its popular iPhone to the developers who have built businesses creating apps for Apple mobile devices.

"The engine in here is made in America," Cook said, holding up an iPhone. "And not only are the engines in here made in America, but engines are made in America and exported. The glass on this phone is made in Kentucky. So, we've been working for years on doing more and more in the United States."

As large as it may sound, a $100 million investment remains a relatively small chunk of Apple's estimated $120 billion cash on hand. It follows other limited steps by electronics companies.

Earlier this year, Google began making its Nexus Q media streamer at a Texas plant -- although that ill-fated device has had a rocky run. Five months after it was unveiled, the Q's page in the Google Play store says it is "not for sale at this time."

Late last year, an analysis by the Boston Consulting Grouppredicted that 2015 will be a "tipping point" when many tech industries will begin manufacturing in the United States.

"A surprising amount of work that rushed to China over the past decade could soon start to come back -- and the economic impact could be significant," said Harold L. Sirkin, a senior partner and lead author of the analysis. "We're on record predicting a U.S. manufacturing renaissance starting by around 2015."