As noted by 9to5mac, a local Brazilian report claims Apple has filed documents at the Jucesp (Junta Comercial do Estado de São Paulo) to begin assembling “products” in Brazil. It is unclear what kind of products Apple is willing to assemble in the country, but the report goes on to specify that a previous rumor suggested governor of São Paulo Geraldo Alckmin would announce Apple’s new factory in Brazil on April 22nd. UOL Technologia also claims other tidbits in the past weeks indicated Apple was shipping containers full of components from Asia to Brazil; furthermore, the city of Jundiaí was rumored to be among the candidates selected by Foxconn to build a new facility in Brazil – although this might not be strictly related with Apple’s plans.

From a rough Google Translation of the original report, it appears there might also be tax exemptions involved in the process:

With the installation of a factory in Brazil, Apple may benefit from tax exemptions offered by the government Rousseff for tablets, which will reach 9.25% for PIS and when the classification of the device to switch to “computer”. The arrival of Apple to Brazil could accelerate the adoption of this exemption - and would benefit from other manufacturers such as Samsung, which already produces in the country Galaxy Tab.

There is still no information whether Apple will use its own plant or at Foxconn, assembly line installed in Jundiaí.

The documents filed at the Jucesp can be viewed here. UOL Technologia says it’s also unclear whether Apple will deploy its own facility or use a Foxconn one built in Brazil, but it seems like the main intention is that of moving some parts of Apple’s production line out of China and all the way down to South America. On a side note, back in November we reported Eike Batista – Brazilian billionaire and the eighth richest person in the world – wanted to invest in a $1.6 billion construction project to bring an Apple facility to Brazil to ”create job positions, generate revenue and lower costs of Apple products for Brazilian customers.”

Update: MacMagazine [Google Translation] reports a “contact at Apple Brazil” informed them the updated Jucesp records weren’t created by Apple. Apparently this is the only official Apple Jucesp record in Brazil, and the new one was probably created by “a squatter.” Speculation about the facility still persists, but Apple is denying the rumors.

[Thanks Newton Mota]

It was yesterday discovered that Apple has discreetly hired Kevin Keeney as a Senior Composites Engineer. What makes this hire interesting is that Keeney is the CEO of a carbon fiber bike designer, Kestrel Bicycles, and has previously worked with Apple on a carbon fiber shell patent in 2009.

There is potential that by making Keeney’s position a permanent one, Apple may be ramping up an effort to produce Apple products with carbon fiber. Like the evolution of using aluminum, which has become a staple in Apple products, the use of carbon fiber could further push its products to even lighter and thinner levels whilst maintaining the strength of aluminum. There are some issues that need to be resolved however, mainly dealing with the cost of carbon fiber compared to aluminum and the reduced ability for heat absorption, which could prove troubling.

Keeney has extensive experience with his 20 years of design work and supply chain management, both of which would be beneficial in any potential job of rolling out a mass-production of carbon fiber based products. It had been falsely rumoured in February that the iPad 2 could potentially replace the aluminum backing of the original with a carbon fiber based one.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

Two weeks ago, Apple officially announced the Q2 2011 conference call, where the company will unveil the financial results for the quarter that ended on March 26. The second fiscal quarter usually marks a decline in sales after the holiday season, but this year analysts are facing an interesting scenario: in the second quarter, Apple released the Verizon iPhone after years of rumors and speculation, and launched the iPad 2 both in the United States and internationally. Whilst previous Q2s have followed the unspoken standard of lower sales than the big boom of Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping, this year’s conference call is set to provide more insight into Verizon iPhone’s sales (which were rumored to be “below expectations”, although many disagree) and the (allegedly) huge success of the iPad 2, which is still nowhere to be found in most Apple retail stores and has a 2-3 weeks shipment delay on Apple.com.

Just like last quarter, Fortune has posted the predictions of pro and “amateur” analysts about how many iPhone units did Apple sell in the quarter. According to the analysts contacted by Fortune, Apple might have sold between 13 million and 20 million iPhones, with most predictions averaging around 16 million devices sold.

The health of Apple’s quarterly earnings – and its stock price – will depend heavily on how those two factors balanced out. The iPhone is the company’s biggest money maker; in Q1 2011, it represented nearly 40% of total revenue.

The 43 analysts we polled – professionals and amateurs – were split on the question of whether iPhone sales rose or fell in Q2. Twenty five believe Apple sold more; 18 think it sold less. Their estimates ranged from a high of 19.8 million from Susquehanna’s Jeff Fidacaro to a low of 13.24 million from Goldman Sachs’ Bill Shope.

In Q1 2011, Apple posted a record revenue of $26.74 billion with 7.33 million iPads sold, 16.24 million iPhones and 4.13 million Macs; a graphical analysis of the Q1 offers a good overview of where Apple’s sales are and what’s generating profit for the company. In the past weeks, other analysts claimed 2011 could be a $100 billion revenue for Apple. While we look forward to see whether or not Horace Dediu and Turley Muller will go close to Apple’s actual results this time around too, you can check out the full chart if predictions and estimates below. Read more