Mary Wilson On Being Dubbed ‘The No Hit Supremes’ And Never Liking Their First No. 1 Hit ‘Where Did Our Love Go’

The Supremes

Founding The Supremes member Mary Wilson said it took nearly five years for the legendary girl group to land a hit record. Though they formed in 1959 and eventually landed a deal on Detroit's Motown Records, they released more than a half a dozen singles before they scored a hit.

 
Mary Wilson (photo: Derick Tortorella)

Feeling desperate, they asked Motown's in-house hit makers Holland-Dozier-Holland to write them something special.

Designed by Apple in California — Assembled in the U.S.?

Apple once operated a factory in the United States. Will it ever open another one? Will we ever see an Apple device labeled “Designed by Apple in California -– Assembled in the United States”? Apple CEO Tim Cook isn’t sure, but he’s certainly open to the idea, though it’s not an easy one to execute.
“I want there to be [another U.S.-manufactured Apple product],” Cook said onstage at our 10th D: All Things Digital conference earlier this week, adding that some important pieces of a few of Apple’s devices are currently made in the States.

“This is not well known, but the engines for the iPhone and iPad are built in the U.S., in Austin,” Cook said.

“The glass on the iPhone is made at a plant in Kentucky — and not just for the U.S., but for other markets outside the U.S. as well.”

But those are just a few components. And the bulk of them are not only manufactured outside the U.S., but assembled into Apple devices there as well.

Could assembly ever be done in the U.S.?

Said Cook, “I hope so, one day.”

But in order for that to ever happen, the U.S. really needs to up its game.

“The truth is the tool-and-die-maker skill in the U.S. began to go down in the late ’60s and early ’70s,” Cook said. “How many tool-and-die makers do you know in the U.S. now? I could call a meeting and invite every tool-and-die maker in the United States and we wouldn’t fill this room.”

Not so in China, though. Said Cook, “In China you could fill a city with tool-and-die makers.”

Majority of micropolitan areas are expanding markets

Micropolitan areas can sometimes be the forgotten stepchildren of demography.

An endless series of reports -- including a majority of On Numbers stories -- focus on the nation's 366 metropolitan areas, which are home to 261 million Americans. Much less attention is paid to the 576 micros, which typically consist of a single county centered on a city with 10,000 to 50,000 residents. Total micropolitan population is 31 million.

But it's worth noting that a majority of the nation's micros are growing, according to newly released population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau    .

Atop the list is Dunn, N.C., which is located 40 miles south of Raleigh. The Dunn area added 3,467 residents between July 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011, equaling a daily increase of 9.5 persons.

Close behind is Daphne-Fairhope, Ala., which hugs the shoreline of Mobile Bay. It gained 3,458 persons during the one-year study period, also translating to 9.5 persons per day.

Rounding out the top five are The Villages, Fla., at 9.4 persons per day; Seaford, Del., at 6.6; and Statesboro, Ga., at 6.0.