I Can Come Out Of The Closet Now – I Have An iPad In Israel
Today the Ministry of Communications in Israel un-banned the iPad for personal use and import. This reverses an earlier arbitrary ban on the device that made almost no sense to those of us who work in the computer market in Israel. It did provide the world’s news media outlets with a great light hearted way to bash Israel rather than the more usual heavy hearted ways!
The story quickly spread from the slightly bemused tech blogs who were concerned only with “what did the Israeli Ministry of Communications know about the way standard WiFi components behave when put in a new device that nobody else in the world knows?”. It is probably no accident that Haaretz kicked off the charge but once the WSJ (who I spoke to on the phone) mentioned the fact that Shimon Peres’s son holds the sole legitimate Apple import license (iDigial is their trading name) they all thought they’d found the meaning of life. Time Magazine expanded it and a blog at Fortune makes the accusation explicit: political connections allowed iDigital to block imports so they could clean up when eventually do get the device direct from Apple.
Only problem with his theory? It’s probably total nonsense and here’s why.
The iPad doesn’t have a Hebrew keyboard now and may not have for months. It took more than a year on the iPhone (even before it came to Israel). Until it has this it’s not got a chance in the mainstream market in Israel. iDigital will not be allowed to sell it by Apple till it is completely localized for Israel and right to left writing. Apple can’t even make enough for the UK or Germany today, how far down the list of priorities is Israel. Even if iDigital could have swung a ban for a week or two or even a month, I am sure there won’t be an official Israeli launch for many months. There is no chance they’d stop the few hundreds of imports that would come in until that official launch.
The Ministry decision was just a typical example of bone headed bureaucracy and clueless officials who haven’t got the first idea about that which they’ve been set to regulate.
There is plenty of political corruption going on here but this isn’t an example. If you want to bash Israel about a slow and stupid over regulatory bureaucracy you better look at your own countries as it seems to be a near universal problem.
Typed on my iPad.
About the Author
Brian of London is not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy. Since making aliyah in 2009, Brian has blogged at Israellycool. Brian's interests include world peace and an end to world hunger. Besides blogging here, Brian of London now writes for PJ Media. Brian of London also hosted Shire Network NewsFiled Under: General
"Here's another one, boys – round him up and take him in!"
Hebrew on the iPad? No problem! http://goo.gl/glb2 (Link to picture on Picasa)
Comment submitted on my iPad!
Yes, this is a real screen capture from the device
OOPS! Please fix the link to sayhttp://goo.gl/gIb2 my mistake!
Wow, a capital 'i' and a lowercase 'L' look exactly the same on this thing! Very confusing.
Can you let me know any details? Does it involve a jailbreak or hack of some sort?
I installed the app Hebrew keyboard ii
Having spent a great deal of time recently with both Mas Hachnasa and the IRS, I can state:
1. The IRS has long hours and will helpfully give you the wrong answer.
2. Mas Hachnasa is available on the phone four hours a week and will cheerfully tell you they don't know and to call a lawyer (!), even though I later found the answer on their website.
No wonder so many people don't pay taxes or Meches (duties) here – no one knows whether they owe any! (I mean this seriously.) (Note that filing a tax return is optional here for workers.)
Still trying to file my 1040…
(The relevance is to confirm Dave's point. Thank you Dave – there is too much of the "they're all crooks" mentality around here. If you really think the country is corrupt, try bribing a traffic cop (as oppsosed, say, to Mexico)!)
Once again, it was not my post but Brian of London's…
Hey, this time you didn't put that in a separate line! Slowly, you are educating me in blogology….
I find that speaking in my bestest English accent and first showing my UK driving license is more likely to help than a few folded 200nis notes with my ID card!
Here's a helpful tip: April 15th has already passed so you've already missed the deadline, Michael. I remember a program the Federal government had for its employees. They offered cash rewards to employees if they came up with ideas that could save the Government money. I don't know of anyone who actually received such a cash reward. But still, I wonder if the IRS has a program for turning in tax cheats. Now let's see, how do you spell that last name again?..K-R-U-M-….
Sorry, I have an automatic two-month extension as a foreign resident ,and I am tax-exempt this year. I call the IRS so much my wife refers to them as "my friends" and an accountant friend says I should open a tax business.
Actually, the general calls I get from the IRS is when they call to tell me they owe me money (seriously!). I would think you had better be careful around me
My favorite mas hachnasa experience is going there three times before finding out that I needed to go to the VAT office and then IN WRITING being given the completely wrong address for the VAT office.
I was trying to find out whether my 10-year exemption on foreign (American) income (of my wife) applied to earned income. The answer I got on the phone were:
1. Your wife does not have to report it; but if you file you do.
2. We don't know; ask a lawyer.
Yesterday I found the answer on their website (you don't have to report it or pay).
In the U.S., I filed electronically (fillable forms, quite nice), and it was rejected because there was no state code. The IRS told me that it would seem that I couldn't file electronically! Couldn't find the code in the nice state code list in Wikipedia, either. An accountant friend told me to fill in "FC", foreign country.
Most of the mess was because I spent a month working for my company from the U.S. – to the U.S. this was no longer foreign income. It came down at the end to a tax treaty (!).
Actually, Steve Jobs already announced that the next iPhone OS v4 would be coming to the iPad in the Fall. If the iPhone has Hebrew then the iPad will have it when it gets the same OS in the Fall. And, as anyone who has had an iPhone knows, the OS is easily updatable.
Waste of money either way imo
Do what you will with this, but I had to post this quote from a Slashdot posting as it’s really funny.
It’s from http://apple.slashdot.org/story/10/04/26/0048212/Israel-Repeals-iPad-Ban
The quote in question:
“Well you know what the nation of Israel is like, they’re always initially suspicious of new tablets. But they come around in the end.”
Cheers