Apple announced that it will open its first store in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro. It will also be the first Apple store in the Latin American region, where up until now, the company only had agreements with local retailers, such as A2U, iPlace and iTown.
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In a statement, the company said it was looking forward to opening the store, noting that Apple has many longtime customers in Brazil and is adding new ones every day. “We can’t wait to bring the unique Apple retail experience to the people of Rio de Janeiro and customers from around the region,” Apple stated.
On its website, Apple posted a series of jobs for the Rio de Janeiro retail store, including the positions of regional leader, manager, store leader and market leader.
Brazil will be 15th country where Apple has opened local stores. The company has nearly 400 stores worldwide in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Italy, Australia, China, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Sweden.
In Brazil, a Foxconn plant manufactures Apple’s iPad and iPhones. The Jundiaí plant, located in the State of São Paulo, employs about 2,400 workers, who were hired in the second half of 2011 to work on Apple devices. In September, Foxconn announced it will invest about U.S.$500 million (R$1 billion) to open a new plant in the state of São Paulo, creating 10,000 new jobs. Foxconn manufactures products for Apple as well as other vendors.
Office in Chile
According to recent news reports by local Chilean newspapers, Apple is planning to open an office in Santiago, the country’s capital, to manage Apple’s business not only in Chile but also in Peru, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Apple has not confirmed these reports.
Last December, Apple launched the iTunes store in 16 Latin American countries, offering music from major labels such as EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music as well as from thousands of independent labels.
