Apple's iPad mini to finally reach Brazil on June 25
Some eight months after the debut of Apple's iPad mini in the United States, Brazilian Apple fans can get their hands on the diminutive tablet, as it has finally been announced for release in that country.
The iPad mini will go on sale in Brazil on Tuesday, June 25. Macworld Brasil posted the news on Friday, saying the tablet will show up at retailers like FNAC, Fast Shop, and Saraiva.
Brazilian pricing for the device has yet to be revealed.
One of the world's largest developing economies, the Brazilian market is an important one to Apple. The company actually manufactures some of its iPhones in Brazil, thanks to the operations of its longtime partner Foxconn.
As Brazil's economy has yet to mature , though, Apple has had to tailor its pricing strategy to make its devices affordable for Brazilian consumers. Earlier this year, Apple slashed iPhone 4 and 4S prices in the country by up to 25 percent. Aggressive pricing in domestic markets has worked well before for Apple, as the iPad mini debuted to insatiable demand in China late last year.
The iPad mini will go on sale in Brazil on Tuesday, June 25. Macworld Brasil posted the news on Friday, saying the tablet will show up at retailers like FNAC, Fast Shop, and Saraiva.
Brazilian pricing for the device has yet to be revealed.
One of the world's largest developing economies, the Brazilian market is an important one to Apple. The company actually manufactures some of its iPhones in Brazil, thanks to the operations of its longtime partner Foxconn.
As Brazil's economy has yet to mature , though, Apple has had to tailor its pricing strategy to make its devices affordable for Brazilian consumers. Earlier this year, Apple slashed iPhone 4 and 4S prices in the country by up to 25 percent. Aggressive pricing in domestic markets has worked well before for Apple, as the iPad mini debuted to insatiable demand in China late last year.
Comments
Why is this news 8 months later?
Its news if you live in Brazil...
I myself am upper middle class, and I have an iPhone 4S and a iPad 2 (both bought when they originally launched here), but I just can't get a Mac (not even a mini) because it is way too much expensive. We pay here, in dollars, what would get me two Macs in the US and still pay half the airplane ticket...
So, it may be news in Brazil, but excuse us if we don't get that much excited, that is not a fault of the product itself, but our shitty tax policy!
It's the government trying to support the manufacturing industry while stunting the growth of the services/developer/software industry.
Shooting yourself in the foot so to speak. Brazil as part of the BRIC countries should be focusing on services/software, not make importing hardware more expensive.
China already won the manufacturing race.
China will win social in their own country.
India's fluency in English and many other skills make them competitive in regards to the English speaking market.
Brazil could dominate the Portuguese/Spanish language tech world, which has huge potential but is faltering with no leader yet, hence Brazil's advantages squandered by their government tariffs.
R, Russia, they already shot one foot off and are aiming at their other foot. Without Oil, Gas, nuke energy, and arms sales, they don't have much to offer. Actually they have a lot of talent but their government restricts it too.
It's all complex, there's no perfect answer.
1) Are the prices because of a tax ?
2) Are there existing distribution contracts in place for Apple products that cause the ramp in price ?
Or is it a combination of both ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobM
Can someone from Brazil answer these two questions:
1) Are the prices because of a tax ?
2) Are there existing distribution contracts in place for Apple products that cause the ramp in price ?
Or is it a combination of both ?
1) Yes, but prices have already gone down if compared to earlier years - particularly since many Apple devices are now manufactured locally, which reduces such costs;
2) I believe so, but these should not have an impact on local prices - Apple is about to open its own stores in Rio and perhaps São Paulo or Brasília - but the price difference is still, to a large extent, due to high taxes. Not to mention that the Brazilian willingness to pay is relatively high (particularly from upper middle classes), so retailers do NOT have an incentive to lower prices.
And before some mongrel dog Brazilians repeat the same BS, let us not forget that BR is, like the US, a federative republic. Therefore, a LOT of the tax load doesn't come from the federal government; it's also from state and municipal taxes.
First things first:
Answering the question from robm: Brazilian taxes gear up consumer electronics prices up to twice as much in Brazil, sometimes north of that, and as Apple hardware is somewhat premium priced (due to being cutting edge in almost all aspects) it really can make a dent in most home budgets.
Apple products produced in Brazil are yesteryear versions, if I'm not much mistaken, the only thing produced here is the iPhone 4, which cost approximately a thousand reais (=480 dollars by today exchange rate). This price is considerably high by Brazilian standards once you consider the national average income per capita. More important, the local assembly doesn't do much to reduce costs because every single little part must be imported and every one of them is taxed (ridiculously).
As for the lawyer, if you have a differentiated take on the question, try making your point without being rude to other people, like spacepower did and you yourself most of your post. And you should inform yourself a little beyond law school's black and white, Brazil is a Federative republic just on paper, it doesn't function like one in all aspects. Don't come here stating obvious facts like differences between federal, state and municipal taxes, hoping that it makes something more of a half assed argument, because it doesn't. In my post I didn't use the words "federal tax" even once, regardless of originating from federal government, state or whatever, the fact is that Brazilian tax is high.
Willingness to pay premium for good consumer products is not a flaw (even if it is, it not just a Brazilian one), but the willingness to accept crappy knockoff products that have little to no aggregated value is one of the things that keep things this way. I bought my Apple products as a work tool (I'm a electronics engineering professor at a federal university and the iPhone iPad combo in a presentation just kick ass in my Digital Signal Processing classes), personal convenience was a secondary point. Although I'm quite happy for my willingness, because to this day, my two year old iPad still screams, while some of my colleagues squandered they money on some Android piece of junk that just didn't cut it, so they almost never use it.
PS: I also have a Apple TV (that I use daily) but that can't be used in court to condemn me as a mongrel dog, because I didn't buy it, it was a wedding gift (my favorite).
Brazil is a huge market, so much so that B&H has a Portuguese version of their website for them.
Seems odd to me that such a huge developing economy should be penalised by the government whether it be at local or national level by a tax regime that effectively raises the entry point in order to be able to trade. Not to mention the educational constraints ... I imagine that you feel somewhat more strongly about it.
Draconian and regressive are a couple of words that come to mind.
Easy pluck for the authorities tho' - I sympathise.
cheers