Apple CEO Tim Cook, in his uphill effort to distance himself from the long shadow of Steve Jobs, has vowed to invest $100M this year to manufacture a Mac computer line in Texas.

motorolaSome components will be produced in Arizona, Illinois, Florida and Kentucky.

My hunch is that Apple will play up the "Made in the U.S." push by fine-tuning its recently launched ad campaign tagged "Designed by Apple in California" to support the new Mac Pro.

It's a nifty ad, but the tagline begs the question: Where is the computer made? Is it in some Chinese sweatshop?

Not good for Apple.

A Texas plant gives Apple the right to promote "Designed in California. Made in the U.S." That's a grand PR selling point, one that will remove some activist heat from Apple.

Unfortunately for Tim, Motorola Mobility, which is part of Apple arch-rival Google, beat him to the publicity punch in announcing a domestic production push.

On July 3, Motorola ran ads in the New York Times, D.C. Post and Wall Street Journal carrying the "Designed by You. Assembled in the USA."

A visitor to Motorola's website learns that by the end of the summer 2,000 new employees in Fort Worth, Tex., will be making the MotoX smartphone.

"Imagine what else you can do when you have the best design, engineering and talent located here in the USA," reads the site. It allows you to steal or at least divert some PR from Apple.

Sorry, Tim. Motorola Mobility CEO Dennis Woodside will make your upcoming U.S.-made promotion a "Johnny come lately" effort.