What's missing is the other side of the Apple equation: The iPhone and iPad, along with the iOS app and hardware peripheral ecosystems, have spawned many high-paying jobs for skilled workers.

In a landmark study, , found that Apple keeps most of its high-wage functions, such as product design, software development and product management in the U.S. All tallied, Chinese workers add $10 or less to the value of an iPad compared to American workers who add $160 worth of value.

"In America, when we talk about manufacturing, we should be talking about advanced manufacturing jobs for highly skilled workers that require a solid education and pay wages on which you can support a family," . "And the fact is, there's a lot of American work that goes into an iPad or an iPhone or a Mac."

Too much has been made about Chinese workers who work on only the final stage of a complex product. Apple is an American icon because it creates jobs for highly-skilled Americans and showcases American ingenuity to the world, as well as makes a boatload of money.

Whether or not there are enough high-skilled jobs to go around or highly skilled Americans to do them is another issue, but one thing is certain: Apple has laid down the blueprint for the next-generation economy in America, and low-skill assembly jobs are not part of the equation.