iPhone Mania

iPHONENOMICS

Apple products where created for a certain type of user, a distinct person who can give the phone personality. They can also tell you the whereabouts of where they are sold. Latin America had firmly put it's place on the Apple map, as on the 15th of February the technology firm had opened it's first store in Rio de Janeiro. Apple wants to take advantage and take a big chunk out of the region's smartphone market, which has been growing faster than any region outside of Asia.

Despite Brazil's sluggish economic growth, Apple decided to locate it's firm there for a reason. Brazil is amongst the top 5 markets for smartphones in the world, that being said it was only last year that Brazil had managed to sell more smartphones in the country than traditional mobile phones.

According to Abinee (an electrionics-industry association) it was also the year that tablets outsold desktop computers. As many as 1,700 people queued up to be one of the first people on the new Apple premise in Rio.

iPhone's are beyond the reach of most people in Latin America, however the sticker shock is quite striking in Brazil. A 16GB iPhone 5s costs 2,519 reais ($1,076) compared with the average monthly income of just under 2000 reais in the main regions. That makes Brazil one of the dearest countries in terms of dollars of the countries where Apple has stores. The fault lies with the infamous "custo Brasil" (Brazil cost) the  exorbitant cost of doing business in the country which has had an effect on the country for years. Even with the Brazilian government trying their best by introducing tax incentives for numerous companies it still may not be enough to stop the inevitable custo Brasil from rearing it's ugly head once again.