ISRAEL: Customers anxiously await the arrival of Apple's iPad computer tablet following an Israeli import ban

Record ID: 395927

  • Title: ISRAEL: Customers anxiously await the arrival of Apple's iPad computer tablet following an Israeli import ban
  • Date: 22nd April 2010
  • Summary: APPLE GADGETS / I- PHONES ON DISPLAY VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN APPLE STORE/ MORE OF GADGETS ON DISPLAY
  • Embargoed: 7th May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Communications,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6TPAJ64DAV8WTH5Q4WX15Z9P7
  • Story Text: Israel has banned the import of Apple's iPad computer tablet, puzzling many citizens.
    In a statement, Israel's Communications Ministry said the device was not compatible with Israel's standards for wireless Internet devices.
    "The operation of the device might have an adverse effect on other devices with WiFi capabilities that conform with the standards already in use in Israel", the statement said.
    "The Ministry of Communications contacted Apple through its local representative to conclude how and when the iPAD can be allowed for harmless use in Israel at the earliest," the statement added.
    But Israeli lawmaker Robert Ilatov, chairman of an Israeli parliament committee on the hi-tech industry, said he regretted the ban on importing the iPad, saying the decision harmed "the image of the state of Israel as a hi-tech power". Ilatov said he thought the reason for the ban was connected to the issue of the licensing of radio frequencies.
    "There is a frequency problem in Israel and therefore it appears the Ministry of Communications decided to ban the import, but I do not think it should be clear-cut, but rather with regard to the mass import," Ilatov told Reuters Television.
    The online edition of Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that customs' authorities at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport have so far confiscated 20 of Apple's new gadgets brought in by arriving passengers.
    Many Israeli customers of Apple are frustrated by the ban on the iPad.
    "They must give the permission to bring it to Israel. We looking like a bad country, the only country in the world that we can't get it. One day, I hope, they're going to bring it here and this situation is not okay," said customer Simon Mor, who was looking at Apple's latest devices inside a shopping mall in Israel's hi-tech capital of Tel Aviv.
    "I don't actually really see the problem why they don't want to bring the iPad to Israel. It's not fair that Americans can have it and in Israel we can't. There's always problems in Israel about bringing things, like, I'm waiting for it to come so I can play with it," said Lilach Ariel, also a resident of Tel Aviv.
    The Israeli Communications Ministry said they hoped to receive some answers from Apple within a few days, suggesting they were looking for a way to resolve the issue.
    Apple plans to market the iPad internationally and will start taking online orders on May 10, while stores worldwide were expected to begin stocking the new electronic tablet beginning at the end of May.
    International sales accounted for 58 percent of Apple's revenue in the December quarter, up from 46 percent a year ago.
    Apple has much riding on the success of the 9.7-inch touchscreen tablet, which is essentially a cross between a smartphone and a laptop. Analysts see the tablet computer market expanding to as many as 50 million units within four years, or by 2014.
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