What jobs has Apple created?

It turns out Apple has an answer to this question: 514,000 in the US. 304,000 of those are either jobs at Apple or at companies that supply them.

Another 210,000 are iOS app economy jobs but let’s face it, those aren’t likely to be full time. But stepping back what Apple is claiming is that its innovations have generated new products that have created or supported jobs. From that perspective, however, 514,000 is a massive understatement. Consider the iPhone. That has spurred new activity. For one, it forced AT&T to dramatically upgrade its network. That likely changed many people’s jobs. Then it caused competitors like Google, Microsoft and Motorola (focusing on the US) to increase investments in R&D and their own manufacturing in order to compete with Apple. One suspects that once you take that into account, then the US jobs that can be somewhat attributed to Apple innovation are much higher than what Apple have claimed.