Brazil goes nuts for iPhone as Apple, Foxconn get local

21 Comments

“Apple is set for a new Latin American growth story, starting in the insanely fast-growing smartphone market of Brazil, where manufacturing partner, Foxconn, has opened up iPhone production, with iPad production set to begin next year,” Jonny Evans reports for Computerworld. “Demand for Apple’s iPhone in Brazil is so high that moving manufacturing there may make the country into Apple’s new China. We’re talking big growth potential.”

“Foxconn, which manufactures iPhones, iPads, iPods and other devices for Apple, is making a major (c$12 billion) investment in Brazil plant,” Evans reports. “With a population of 203.4 million, a booming service industry and a GDP of $2.172 trillion, Brazil is one of the stronger Latin American economies. There’s also a smartphone revolution taking place there — a recent Nielsen survey showed a 165 percent increase in smartphone sales year-on-year.”

Evans reports, “Brazil currently puts a hefty fee on imported goods. Despite these (which reportedly can triple prices) iPhone already accounts for an estimated 10 percent of local smartphone sales.”

Much more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]

21 Comments

  1. And to all you free traders:
    If Brazil didn’t slap import tarriffs they would be getting the same ChiCom iPhone we get in the US.

    There is a policy and economics lesson in there for the NeoCons who want no tarriffs and deregulated everything.

    Reply

    1. Import restrictions? End free trade agreements???
      Yeah that will really help America and everyone else who need to export their way out of financial meltdown. Yay…back to pre-industrial revolution GDP
      Great thinking ;/)

      Reply

      1. Hell, I’m against full-on free trade and globalization myself because they’re so lopsided in favour of corporations and not consumers, and it’s not clear to me on first reading what progressiveagentprovocateur is trying to say.

        I can only assume he means that the high tariffs means Chinese-built products couldn’t be bought economically within Brazil. The population suffered (pay higher prices) or got around it (smuggled them in or bought abroad), but in the end local manufacturing was protected, and they’ll soon get a local factory to produce these very products which will not be subject to tariffs and will be 2/3 cheaper for the end-user.

        Reply

        1. they’re so lopsided in favour of corporations and not consumers,

          Nonsense. When businesses can seek the lowest cost of production, consumers get the lowest prices.

          -jcr

    3. Here’s the lesson you’re missing: because of Brazil’s insane import tariffs, they’re paying twice what you and I do for an iPhone. That price will come down when Foxconn starts building units in Brazil, after a delay of many YEARS.

      This is not a benefit to the Brazilian economy. Those import tariffs apply also to any factory equipment they have to bring in.

      -jcr

      Reply

    4. So, what you’re saying is that while high import tariffs made Brazilian consumers suffer with double prices, the Brazilian worker benefitted by getting a factory that otherwise might not have been built?

      So, what happens if everyone puts up import tariffs? Then, a lot of manufacturing becomes local, but is less efficient and thus prices rise, consumers lose out but a few manufacturing jobs are saved at what net cost or benefit to society? Have you worked it out yet?

      Reply

    6. I am amazed when the same people that call Adobe bloated and expensive while cheering on Pixelmator, don’t see the corollary in the world’s labor force. China is Pixelmator. You can guess who Adobe represents.

      Reply

    1. @Rafael,
      Do you use Siri in English and is it working well for you? I wonder when Apple will release Siri in the native languages of South America, especially if the region is considered poised for explosive iPhone growth?

      Reply

  5. ARRGH!

    I thought with trade barriers Brazil would be IMMUNE to the Apple PLAGUE but now they are actually building iToy FACTORIES!

    I was going to Brazil (remember my earlier post where I tried to download a Brazilian Tour Guide app for my android phone but because it was a PIRATE site OVERSEAS and I didn’t grok their language I downloaded an app to check Bra Size instead) but no longer.

    Already in the U.S the apple plague has spread, girls – snooty snots – with their iPads and iPhones move away when I sit down with my Xoom (it’s typical Apple fan SNOBBISHNESS — my mom says they move away because i don’t shower enough but I … KNOW .. the TRUTH. )

    Now Hot Brazilian Girls infected with Apple delirium are going to ignore me totally as well. And I was ready to hit the beaches and impress them with my Android hacks (my signature ‘remove crapware in thirty steps’. ) .

    I guess I’ll go to World XoomFest Winter 2011 instead . In spite of the free tickets XoomFest SUMMER was a bit flat – they were only eight of us (counting the conference organizer, the janitorial staff and the stray dog) but that’s because the Xoom was relatively new then. I suspect World XoomFest Winter will be way cooler and I know I won’t be bothered by snooty iFans.

    Reply

  6. I recently traveled to Brazil on business for a week. I was amazed at the number of iPads that the Brazilians had and were using while waiting to board my flight. It looked like at least half of the passengers and I kid you not.

    Reply

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