Following a report earlier today about Apple appealing a Brazilian antitrust regulator’s ruling on the App Store, the Brazilian courts decided on Thursday night to overturn the injunction imposed on Apple, which would have forced the company to enable sideloading on iOS for Brazilian users within 20 days.
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As we recently reported, the Brazilian antitrust regulator known as “Cade” recently ruled that Apple can no longer prevent developers from selling content and distributing apps outside the App Store in Brazil. Unsurprisingly, Apple is now appealing the decision which the company considers “disproportionate.”
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As we’ve reported here in the past, Apple is facing an intriguing legal dispute in Brazil when it comes to the “iPhone” trademark as a local company called Gradiente claims to have patented the name long before Apple. As the case still awaits a final judgment, Gradiente still believes that it created the first iPhone.
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Pre-orders for the iPhone 16 have already begun and the phones will hit stores on Friday, September 20. As previously reported, Apple will assemble the new iPhones in India simultaneously with China. But it turns out that Brazil is also on the list of countries where the iPhone 16 is assembled.
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While China is still responsible for manufacturing most of Apple’s devices, the company does have some assembly facilities around the world. One of these facilities is Foxconn Brazil, located in São Paulo. There, Apple is now assembling the 6.1-inch iPhone 15.
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Apple has been slowly expanding its enhanced Apple Maps experience to more countries since 2018 when the company started collecting its own map data from scratch. Earlier this year, the new Apple Maps experience was launched in more European countries, including Austria, Croatia, and Poland. Apple has now confirmed that this experience will soon be available in Brazil.
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Apple announced on Thursday that Tap to Pay on iPhone is now available to users in the UK. For those unfamiliar, the feature turns the iPhone into a payment terminal, so vendors can use their phone to accept contactless payments. Now it seems that Tap to Pay is coming soon to Brazil as well.
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China still accounts for most of Apple’s product production, including iPhone. However, in recent years, the company has been slowly trying to diversify its supply chain with the help of other countries. Now Apple has started assembling the iPhone 14 in Brazil as the company keeps shifting production from China.
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The Brazilian Ministry of Justice ordered in September the suspension of iPhone sales in the country after concluding that Apple harms consumers by not offering the power adapter included with the device. Even after million-dollar fines, Apple still fails to comply with the requirement – which has now led to the Federal District-based consumer protection regulator seizing iPhones from retail stores.
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Back in September, the Brazilian Ministry of Justice ordered the suspension of iPhone sales in the country after deciding that Apple harms consumers by selling the product without the power adapter. Apple has continued selling iPhones in Brazil despite the ban, and a Brazilian court on Tuesday fined Apple – once again – for not including the accessory in the phone’s box.
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Apple TV+ launched in 2019 with exclusive shows and movies – and although most of them come from the US and Canada, there are already some productions from other places and in languages other than English. This time, it seems that Apple is now in talks to produce its first original content made in Brazil.
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Back in 2020, the Brazilian Supreme Court decided to accept the appeal of local company IGB Eletrônica (also known as Gradiente) against Apple regarding the iPhone trademark in Brazil. However, it seems that things aren’t going to end well for Gradiente as Brazil’s Prosecutor General has now said that the iPhone trademark belongs to Apple and not to the Brazilian company.
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Yesterday, Apple unveiled in its “Peek Performance” event a new iPhone SE 3, iPad Air 5, Mac Studio, and Studio Display. If you’re looking for the best countries to buy one of these products – or regions to avoid – Brazil is still the worst place you could think about buying a new Apple product.
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The iPhone 13 is not even available in Brazil yet, but the country’s consumer protection regulator has already said it’s going to investigate Apple’s decision to sell the iPhone charger separately.
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In today’s earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple Pay will be rolling out in Brazil soon. While he didn’t give us an exact date, Cook said it would be coming soon.
Deutsche Bank has published its annual Mapping the World’s Prices report, which includes a ranking of the cost of an iPhone in each of 33 countries. The 2017 version shows that Brazil is no longer the most expensive place to buy …
Following a recent ruling that Apple would have ten days to remove the anonymous social app Secret from its Brazilian App Store, Apple has complied with the order. The justification for the removal, according to a source close to the situation, can be found in section 22.1 of the App Store Guidelines:
Apps must comply with all legal requirements in any location where they are made available to users. It is the developer’s obligation to understand and conform to all local laws
As noted by the judge, the Brazilian constitution prohibits anonymous freedom of expression, which essentially makes Secret and other apps like it illegal with that country.
Per Article 5, Section IV of the Constitution of Brazil:
Update: At the moment, this ruling is still unofficial. A Brazilian prosecutor is pushing for the removal of these apps, but the judge has not officially ordered any action just yet. A source tells us that Secret has sent counsel to Brazil to investigate the situation, though we’ve been told this ruling would really be against Apple, Google, and Microsoft rather than the Secret app itself. Original story below:
A judge in Brazil has had it with the anonymous bullying carried out on social networking apps like Secret and has stepped in to put a stop to it, according to a report from Estadao [translation]. Judge Paulo Cesar de Carvalho has ruled that Apple and Google must delete the application from their respective app stores, but the ruling doesn’t stop there.
According to the report, the judge has demanded that both companies remotely delete the application from every device that has installed it in the country. While that might sound like a hilarious case of a judge not understanding how technology works, you may be surprised to learn that it’s actually a capability that both companies possess.
Humidity and mold problems that delayed the opening of the new Apple Store in Hannover, Germany, have reportedly been resolved, and the store is now expected to open in September, reports ifun, citing several sources involved in the project.
The store had originally seemed close to completion in March, but humidity in the building reportedly led to mold in the fabric of the building, requiring remedial work.
The site ifun reported that employees who had already been hired based on the previous anticipated opening have been informed of the latest developments, and is speculating that Apple may time the opening to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 6, rumored to be on 19th September.
Following with the appointment of retail head Angela Ahrendts, Apple announced an ambitious international expansion program for its retail stores, with around 20 expected to open this year. International stores already opened this year include the first ever Apple Stores in Brazil and Turkey, the fourth store in Switzerland and the eighth store in Japan.
Earlier this month, Apple was granted a European trademark on the design of its retail stores.
Seeking to enhance Apple’s retail store divison and bring the customer experience to higher levels, new Apple Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores Angela Ahrendts is planning a fundamental restructuring of Apple’s retail stores as she prepares a series of new store openings across the globe for the second half of 2014 and first half of 2015…
Google has been adding StreetView, Maps, and new search features specifically for the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup, and today it brings new Google Now cards to the Google Search app for iOS. The new cards for the Google Now feature in the app will present the latest on World Cup news including “scorers, match statistics, group standings and more.”
Also new for this year’s tournament, you don’t even have to search to get updates on your favorite teams—just open Google Now. You’ll be given an option to start seeing cards with stats about each match that you can tap for more detail… Make sure you are signed in to Google, and have your Google Now turned on in your settings. Swipe up to see your Google Now cards and follow your favorite team!
The updated Google Search app for iOS is available on the App Store now.
The Official FIFA iPhone and iPad apps, which also happen to act as the Official FIFA World Cup app, has been updated today with a number of new features ahead of 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil tournament kicking off on June 12.
The app gets a few pre-tournament features leading up to the first official World Cup match, but it will also be getting another update before then to introduce additional features. In today’s update, you’ll find a World Cup latest news section, the ability to discover info for all coaches and players across 32 teams, and a full schedule of all 64 games planned for the tournament. The update will also let you “Explore the host country Brazil and get familiar with the stadiums and cities where the action will happen.”
In another upcoming update the app will introduce “minute-by-minute action, live from all 64 games” and other features for keeping up with the latest.
The updated Official FIFA World Cup app for iPhone and for iPad are available on the App Store now.
During its unveiling of iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite yesterday, Apple mentioned that it’s adding 24 new dictation languages, but it didn’t specify what those languages would be. Dictation, a feature available on both iOS and OS X, uses speech-to-text technology powered by Nuance to let users input text using only their voice rather than a keyboard or touchscreen.
Apple has gone from just 8 languages (with a few variations for some) to over 30 in Yosemite. In case you’re curious if your language will make the cut by the time the new operating systems are released this fall, below we’ve included a full list of new supported languages and variations by country:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-CAut6hkPs]
Around 1,700 people attended the opening of Apple’s first retail store in Brazil, in the popular Village Mall in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro – despite steep import tariffs meaning prices 80 percent higher than in the USA.
As the LA Times observes, a 16GB iPhone 5s sells for the equivalent of $1,174 in Brazil, compared to $649 in the U.S.
We first told you the store was planned all the way back in 2012, learning the the approximate opening date in October last year. Apple began teasing the opening last month before announcing the opening date.
To avoid the high tariffs imposed on imported goods, Apple has been working with Foxconn since 2011 to set up manufacturing or assembly plants in the country.
