Tim Cook Thanks Apple Employees for Outstanding 2012 with Extended Thanksgiving Vacation Time

tim cook headshotJust as he did last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook has sent an email to company employees thanking them for a successful year and letting them know that they will be receiving the entire week of Thanksgiving in the United States off in order to spend more time with their families. The extra holiday days of November 19-21 are being given with pay. 9to5Mac has the full letter.

Team,

Apple is having another incredibly successful year, thanks to all of the hard work by you and your teams. Your focus and dedication to making the best products on earth is what makes Apple such an incredible place.

In a little over six months we’ve launched outstanding new products in each of our major categories, starting with the new iPad this spring. The response was incredible, and continued to show Apple’s unrivaled leadership in this post-PC era. Over the summer we introduced the radically thin and light 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina display, and shipped Mountain Lion, the fastest-selling update to OS X ever. Today, iPhone 5 is taking the world by storm. And in the next few weeks we’ll ship the new iPod touch and completely redesigned iPod nano with innovative designs that our customers are going to love this holiday season.

To recognize the efforts that made this amazing year possible, I’m happy to announce that we’re extending the Thanksgiving holiday once again this year. We will shut down with pay on November 19, 20 and 21 so our teams can spend the whole week with their loved ones.

Retail and some other teams will need to work that week so we can continue to serve our customers, but please check with your manager about taking time off at a later date. Our international teams will also get an extra three days off during this quarter, scheduled at a time that’s best for them. Details will be available on AppleWeb.

Thank you for everything you do for Apple and please enjoy this much deserved break.

As with last year's vacation time, retail store employees will need to stagger their extra days off in order to keep stores open for the public, and international corporate employees will receive their time off at times convenient for them, as they do not necessarily need to coincide with the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
ipad air windows 11 arm

M2 iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation, Thanks to EU Rules

Tuesday April 22, 2025 5:01 am PDT by
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect. As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Includes Only a Few Changes So Far

Monday April 21, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 18.5 to developers today, and so far the software update includes only a few minor changes. The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps. In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner. In the Settings app, AppleCare+ coverage information is more...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Launching Later This Year With These 16 New Features

Thursday April 24, 2025 8:24 am PDT by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device. Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...

Top Rated Comments

dv8r Avatar
164 months ago
Not so fast there Maps team.

Best Regards,
Tim
Score: 46 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Macist Avatar
164 months ago
The iMac and Mac Pro teams must be on a permanent holiday.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tekno Avatar
164 months ago
No new iMacs, no new Mac Pros, a terrible iPhone 5 launch, closure of Ping, launch of a very mediocre 'new' OSX, Lightning adaptors not available on iPhone launch, disastrous launch of Maps... yes, I can see it's been an outstanding year.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
applefan022 Avatar
164 months ago
Maybe you should stay at work and work on the Maps app.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GenesisST Avatar
164 months ago
This is awesome!

Vacation Time is better salary increase... At least, for me.

And the government can't take a cut of that...
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
James L Avatar
164 months ago
Thank you Tim but as usual, retail staff will not spend thanksgiving with family...

we will have to work...

so guys in their offices have their 3 days off, and people working their a_s_s off all year long will continue to enjoy working their a_s_s off for the company and will take these 3 days in Feb or March like past years

great

Retail employees shouldn't be surprised that retail stores remain open to.... you know... sell products.

If they don't like this perhaps a different line of work would be in order?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)