While Brazilian-made iPads might be a bit behind schedule, they’re shaping up to be ready shortly. The government has recently confirmed that Foxconn has qualified for local tax breaks, which they’ll be happy to get after pouring $300 million into the country to make its third factory in São Paulo and hiring 1,400 local workers. Foxconn has earned exemption or reduction from IPI (a federal tax added to production materials) and PIS (a tax to pay for unemployment insurance and low-wage workers). Apparently the rule will apply to all tablets weighing less than 750 grams, so in theory, Foxconn could benefit from these tax cuts when building tablets for competitors, too.

Foxconn has invested more than $12 billion into the whole affair, which was all put at risk as the manufacturing giant demanded special treatment from the Brazil government before setting up shop.

No doubt a manufacturing facility will do wonders for Apple’s penetration in Latin America, but I would be curious to see how much it helps us here in North America – after all, shipping from Brazil would be much faster than from China, at least on paper. I would be a little surprised if the Brazilian shipping infrastructure was as strong as Shenzhen’s, so it might actually be a close race. Even as a back-up to the main supply line from, this Brazilian plant will do good things for making sure iPads are well-stocked around the world.

Source: Folha via AppleInsider

Apple has announced they’re rolling out the iTunes Store to Brazilian and a number of Latin American countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.

iTunes in the Cloud is available today for free in Brazil and Latin America and iTunes Match is available today for a $24.99 annual fee in Brazil.

The iTunes Store in Brazil offers over a thousand movies to rent or purchase, with many in stunning HD, from major studios including 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures. The iTunes Store in Brazil now joins the revolutionary App Store™, which offers more than 500,000 apps to consumers in 123 countries, reaching hundreds of millions of iPad, iPhone and iPod touch® users around the world. Customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps to date.

Brazil before Canada or the UK? Oh Apple, you tease. Hit the source for the full press release from Apple. Any Brazilian or Latin American readers excited to finally be included in the Apple ecosystem?

Source: Apple

On December 16, Apple will continue the international roll out of the iPhone 4S, launching it in Russia, Brazil, Taiwan, South Africa, the Philippines, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

Apple took over 1 million pre-orders in the first 24 hours in the initial 7 countries where the iPhone 4S launched, and sold through over 4 million sales during the opening weekend.

Although Apple hasn’t put forward any official press release about continuing with the 4S international rollout, carrier partners such as Claro (Brazil) and Russian retailers like Digital.ru have announced the 16th as the magic date with pre-orders already being accepted.

Are you pre-ordering an international iPhone 4S, or picking one up on the 16th? If you’re having trouble deciding which generation, color, or capacity to get, we have a complete iPhone 4S buyers guide ready and waiting. Check it out and then come back and tell us which one you’re getting!

Source: MacRumors

Gizmodo Brazil got their hands on some pictures of the 8GB iPhone 4 at Foxconn’s new Brazilian manufacturing plant.

Most of these photos don’t look like anything special—just snapshots of a familiar face. But when you get to the last one, a picture of a Foxconn Brazil quality control form, you’ll notice something strange: a different model number, N90A. This has already been rumored to represent a cheaper version of the iPhone4.

Apple typically makes a new, lower storage version of the past year’s iPhone to keep selling alongside the new one at a US$99 price point. Last year that was the 8GB iPhone 3GS. This year, it’ll in all likelihood be the 8GB iPhone 4.

Source: Gizmodo Brazil via Gizmodo

Bloomberg reports that Apple has cut iPad 2 orders from Foxconn in China by up to 25%, which likely indicates Apple shifting production to the new Brazilian plant, according to JPMorgan analyst Mark Moskowitz.

Several supply-chain vendors indicated in the past two weeks that Apple lowered fourth-quarter iPad orders 25 percent, the first such cut that analysts at JPMorgan’s electronic manufacturing services team in Hong Kong said they have ever seen. The report didn’t list the affected companies, and Gokul Hariharan, one of the report’s authors, said he couldn’t comment when reached by Bloomberg News today.

We think it’s a bit premature to pin this on Apple gearing up for iPad 3 production, as TiPb recently heard Apple had returned iPad 3 to the traditional spring schedule. Instead, the idea of Apple shifting production to the new plant seems more likely. Earlier this month, The Brazilian Minister of Science and Technology, Aolizio Mercadante, has confirmed that the new Foxconn factory in Jundiai Brazil is up and running.

Moskowitz believes Apple will sell between 10.9 and 12 million iPads during the 4th quarter, up from 9.25 million in Q3.

Source: Bloomberg

According to a report by Brazilian technology website UOL, the Brazilian Minister of Science and Technology, Aolizio Mercadante, has confirmed that the new Foxconn factory in Jundiai is up and running. The iPad 2 production line is in operation and they will begin shipping this December.

At first many doubted, but it will be the first time that the company will produce iPads outside Chinese territory. We are taking a big step for digital inclusion in the country,” he said. Mercadante also said that the federal government will announce in the coming days to invest in a big factory of games in the Manaus Free Zone.

[MacRumors]

Apple said they would release the iPhone 3G in over 70 countries this year. They started off with 22 way back on July 11, added another 22 in August 22, and now it looks like they’re planning on adding 29 more to the party starting September 26. According to Apple Insider, these include:

Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama, Russia, Qatar, Senegal, South Africa, Turkey, and Venezuela.

Still no China, of course, along with Korea, or… Antarctica. Anyone else missing?

First Canada, then 10 Vodafone-serviced countries spanning Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, now Engadget brings word that Mexico-based America Movil has announced it will be bringing the iPhone not only to its own home town, but to potentially all the 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries/territories/protectorates it provisions!

These include Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, the United States (almost certainly off limits because of AT&T), Guatamala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Chile.

And the Phone Different Jumbotron now reads:

As with the other recent announcements, no details were provided as to when, how much, or whether or not there would be exclusivity or anything approaching special (read: reasonable) unlimited data plans. It also leaves another pressing question:

Who’s next?!