SAO PAULO – A telecommunications analyst says Apple Inc. will most likely eventually agree to pay a Brazilian company for the right to use the iPhone brand in Latin America's biggest country.
Last week, Gradiente SA started selling smartphones with the iPhone brand after winning the legal right to use the name in Brazil. The phone runs on the Android operating system from archrival Google Inc.
Eduardo Tude, president of Brazilian telecommunications consultancy Teleco, says Thursday that the "most likely scenario" is that the two companies will reach an agreement whereby Apple will pay Gradiente for the use of the brand.
He says Apple would have to agree because it "doesn't want to stop selling its product in Brazil."
Apple spokeswoman Maria Parra Rodriguez said the company would not comment on the matter.
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