“I realize many of you worked tirelessly to bring us this far. I know it required great personal sacrifice,” wrote Apple’s boss Tim Cook in an email to the company’s employees before making a surprise announcement.
“In recognition of your incredible efforts and achievements, I’m happy to announce that we’re extending the Thanksgiving holiday this year,” reads the memo.
Although the extended Thanksgiving holiday won’t apply to Apple’s retail and support army “so we can continue to serve our customers,” the rest of Apple will shut down with pay on November 25, 26, and 27, Cook wrote. I’ve included the full contents of Cook’s email to employees right below…
Here it is:
Team,
It’s been an exciting summer. For the first time, we’ve launched two new iPhone product lines. iOS 7 was created from a deep collaboration between our design and engineering teams, bringing to our customers a stunning new user interface and amazing new features. We unveiled OS X Mavericks and the most powerful Mac ever. The App Store celebrated a new milestone — 50 billion downloads. And we continued to express our love for music with iTunes Radio and the iTunes Festival.
I had the opportunity to visit a few of our stores during the iPhone launch. There is no better place to see and feel why Apple is special. The best products on Earth. Energy. Enthusiasm. The best customers in the world. Passionate team members focused on enriching people’s lives. Innovative products that serve humanity’s deepest values and highest aspirations.
And I am proud to tell you that Apple is also a force for good in our world beyond our products. Whether it’s improving working conditions or the environment, standing up for human rights, helping eliminate AIDS, or reinventing education, Apple is making a substantial contribution to society.
None of this would have been possible without you. Our most important resource is not our money, our intellectual property, or any capital asset. Our most important resource — our soul — is our people.
I realize many of you worked tirelessly to bring us this far. I know it required great personal sacrifice.
In recognition of your incredible efforts and achievements, I’m happy to announce that we’re extending the Thanksgiving holiday this year. We will shut down with pay on November 25, 26, and 27 so our teams can have the whole week off. Retail, AppleCare and a few other teams will need to work that week so we can continue to serve our customers, but will receive the same number of days off at an alternate time. Please check with your manager for details. Our international teams will schedule the vacation days at a time that is best suited for their specific country.
I hope you find the extra time restful and relaxing. You deserve it. Details will be available on AppleWeb soon.
I am exceedingly proud of all of you. I am in awe of what you’ve accomplished and couldn’t be more excited about the future. Enjoy the time away!
Best,
Tim Cook
It’s nice seeing Cook knows how to treat his employees.
Cook also visited Apple’s Palo Alto store for the September 20 iPhone 5s/5c launch (see the image top of post) to mingle with fans, sending out his first tweet via the verified @tim_cook account on Twitter.
And after Apple announced opening weekend sales of nine million iPhone 5s/5c handsets, Cook again took to Twitter to thank “all our amazing customers for the fantastic weekend”.
More good stuff should be coming out of Apple in the weeks ahead, including new iPads and possibly a refreshed Apple TV hardware in October, OS X Mavericks availability for the general public, the next-gen Mac Pro launch in November and Haswell-powered MacBook Pro and Mac mini updates.
On a related note, this past weekend billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn alluded he might meet the soft-spoken Apple chief in New York City later today to discuss stock buybacks and other business topics.
[via 9to5Mac]