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Apple opens first store in Brazil
February 16, 2014, 5:19 am

Apple employees wave the national flag to celebrate the opening of an apple store in a Village Mall of Barra da Tijuca district in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 15, 2014 [Xinhua]

Apple employees wave the national flag to celebrate the opening of an apple store in a Village Mall of Barra da Tijuca district in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 15, 2014 [Xinhua]

Ahead of the world’s biggest sporting even, the Football World Cup 2014 hosted by Brazil, Apple Inc on Saturday opened its first retail store in the Latin American country.

“’Obrigado’ to everyone who visited our new store in Rio de Janeiro today and to our terrific customers across Brazil!” tweeted Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Apple inaugurated its first physical store in the Village Mall of Barra da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro.

Apple is looking to increase its footprint in developing economies as growth stagnates in the US. With a burgeoning middle class increasingly going online, Brazil is one of the fastest-growing markets for smartphones in the world.

Cook had earlier said that Apple sees “huge opportunity” in Brazil, and Latin America’s biggest economy in many ways mirrors the economic climate in China, one of its key growth demographics.

Apple more than doubled sales of iPads in mainland China during the holiday quarter, and it experienced strong growth in emerging markets like Latin America and Russia, the company’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer said last month.

A contract-free iPhone 5s will cost $1,169 in Brazil compared to $872 in China and $649 in the United States.

 

 Source: Agencies