An Apple Store in Jerusalem?
Proposed entrance to the city of Jerusalem
My friends and family all know me as the ultimate Apple fan boy. Other than Amir, who still doggedly hangs on to his Windows desktop computer, the rest of the family has migrated to Mac – in the house are, in a variety of stages from “about to die” to “brand new bar mitzvah present from last week,” a clunky, over stuffed 17-inch iMac, a tiny Mac Mini, and three white MacBooks. There are also two iPhones, an iPod Touch and two iPod Nanos. There’s even an old brick of an iPod Mini. The only thing that’s missing is the iPad. and that’s next on the wish list.
So it was with a sense of electronic ecstasy that I read yesterday that the Cupertino behemoth is considering building its first Apple Store in Jerusalem.
Israel already has a few Apple Stores (not really full fledged Apple Stores; they’re run by local Apple franchisee iDigital), but they’re all in the Tel Aviv area. Now, I realize Jerusalem is not as sexy or consistently hi-tech as Ramat Aviv, but I still felt left out of the party. Are we Jerusalemites any less Mac savvy? Visit your local Aroma Café, where you’ll a sea of MacBooks on half the tables.
The new Jerusalem Apple Store is proposed to be part of a massive new hi-tech complex to be built at the entrance of the city. A 15-screen Cinema City was approved last month for the area. Mayor Nir Barkat’s vision is to create an entirely new hub for the city right where the fast train to Jerusalem and the light rail meet, under the Bridge of Strings near the Central Bus Station and Binyanei HaUma. This would appeal to Tel Avivi’s coming up the hill who wouldn’t have to then traipse to the other side of town to reach their workplace in the Malcha hi-tech park, for example.
The plans look pretty cool, even if just conceptual at this point. And the fast train isn’t “scheduled” to be complete until 2017 (note the emphasis on the timeframe – we’re still waiting for the perennially delayed light rail to open). Still, it could significantly spruce up the current, drab portal to the city; the first thing visitors from “the merkaz” see when they make that infrequent pilgrimage to meet with the provincial relatives who never saw the light and bought a villa in Ramat HaSharon.
The Apple Store, according to the articles, will be more than a consumer outlet; there’s also a plan to build a 5000-square foot education center and home to the world’s first Apple Digital Library (though I’m not sure exactly what that’s supposed to be). Apple execs reportedly said they wanted to bring the country’s largest Apple Store to Jerusalem for “symbolic regions.” It’s scheduled to open in 2016.
The only question left is: what will the haredim who live in nearby neighborhoods think? I hear they’re all Windows users.
Navigating Israel on the iPhone
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Life, Technology, Travel
Israel’s Tourism Ministry is making great efforts to join the 21st century – the latest attempt being a pretty cool one.
The launch of a new iPhone application finds the user’s location and let them receive fast, updated information on sites, tours and events in the immediate area. According to a press release put out by the ministry, the app – named iSrael – can be downloaded for free from the Apple Appstore.
While currently available in English and Hebrew, there are plans to expand the app to Russian, German and French. In the meantime, there’s a plethora of information available, listed under themes like archeology and history, nature and animals, holy places, national sites and parks and gardens.
Clicking on a site opens a new page, which provides a photo and a description of the site as well as helpful information like contact details, hours of operation, a map of the area, a precise address and a link to the attraction’s website. There’s also a section for hikes and tours called ‘Tracks’ which is divided into hiking tours, bicycle tours, vehicle tours and tours for people with disabilities.
You can also find hotels and other accomodations through the application, including details like kashrut standard, suitability for young children or pets and maps.
And, as an extra attraction, users can upload their own photographs and comments to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in real time through the application.
Jerusalem Post resident techie David Shamah praised the iSrael application for its nice interface, and offered some tips for the future:
There are a number of blank sections in the database, such as lists of restaurants, recommended tours outside the center of the country and other details, but one can assume they will be filled in over the coming days and sent on to those who downloaded the app.
Currently, you can click on a phone number or e-mail address to make a call or send a message to a hotel, organization or other group featured in the listing you’ve been reading; hopefully the app will provide maps and driving directions to the sites included in the app, taking advantage of the tight integration of the iPhone platform.
Now if we could just get the taxi drivers to start behaving in a civil manner…
The iPhone finally makes it to Israel
At long last, the wait is over. People all over Israel will be delighted to hear that Apple is finally bringing the iPhone to Israel.
After an extended wait, the iPhone finally arrives.
Not that you’d know the iPhone isn’t here all ready. Thousands of Israelis already have the phone – bought from abroad, and hacked into here – it’s the phone to have right now. All the more fashionable for being unavailable. We also have our own unofficial Apple store selling all the gadgets that go with it.
Even five-year-old Israelis know what the iPhone is, as I discovered when I made a call at the swimming pool the other day.
“Cool,” he said. This either says a lot about the iPhone, or about five-year-old Israelis.
The Apple iPhone will be imported into Israel by Pelephone and Partner Communications. Both companies are keeping mum about launch, prices and marketing, though when Pelephone announced that it plans to market the iPhone 3G S (launched last week), Partner quickly said that it too will sell the device.
Cellcom is staying out of the iPhone melee, preferring to sit on the sidelines and see what the level of demand is. The company’s reasoning is pretty sound – there are already thousands of devices in the country.
While a launch date hasn’t been set, the iPhone should go on sale in Israel sometime in the next few months, and certainly by the end of the year.
All very well and good, but now I’ll have to look for a new gadget to impress the kids at the pool.
Apple-mania arrives in Israel
Well, idigital launched the first Apple store of sorts in Israel this week and the country was a-buzzin. I didn’t really feel the need to go since I’ve been to Apple stores all over the world and what I am really going to see that’s new anyway? Next time I’m in Ramat Aviv (which will most likely be never) I’ll stop by…unless they start selling the iphone. Which I’m hearing rumblings in the street that it is happening sooner than later. It’s important to note that this is not an official Apple Store and while the store looks identical to Apple stores elsewhere in the world there are indeed differences. My favorite is that the Genius bar is called the Guru bar.
Globes reports:
The new 300 square meter store in the Ramat Aviv mall in Tel Aviv is exceptional for its design, which is radically different from that of other computer retail chains in Israel. The Apple flagship store in Israel is almost identical in design to the stores spread across the US and Europe, the only difference being in size, since the chain’s stores overseas are still much larger than the newly opened Israeli branch. iDigital has also taken the initiative, in view of the criticism leveled at it over prices of Apple products in Israel, which are far higher than those abroad, and has reduced prices on most products by 10% to 33.7%.
I’m glad to see that they’ve lowered their prices. I’ve complained about their markup in a previous post, and while the decrease is welcome, I fear it is not enough to make Apple a successful brand in Israel. Though other steps are being taken to make the Apple a contender. An official Hebrew translation of OS X is now available and is being offered as a free download for Hebrew speakers.
Check out this video of the countdown. Includes the patented Israeli rhythmic clapping.
The Israel iphone saga continues…Steve Jobs responds
Well, judging by the amount of comments my last post, bringing the iphone to Israel is something of interest to more people than just me. A comment was left by a Yuval Vizel, founder of the Facebook group “Bring the iPhone to Israel”
Dear Mr. Jobs,
On behalf of “The Group for the Promotion of the iPhone’s Release in Israel”, I’d like to to bring your attention to the fact that the absence of Israel from Apple’s list of 70 countries, which are slated to release the new iPhone 3G within the next few months, has caused a great disappointment among the Israeli mobile phone users, and particularly among Apple’s loyal Israeli fans. We believe that Apple is missing a great business opportunity by ignoring the Israeli cellular market.
As written in an article by John H. Christy III, editor of Forbes International Investment Report :
“Israel’s mobile telecom market is fairly well developed, with a penetration rate almost 125%. In other words, there are more than nine million mobile phone accounts for a population of 7.2 million people. Furthermore, spending on telecom services in Israel accounts for 4.4% of gross domestic product. That’s a higher proportion than even the US and Europe.” (From “A Clear Connection to Israel”, published in MoneyShow.com, June 2nd, 2008)
In addition, we’d like to bring your attention to the great demand for iPhones in Israel and to the active community which has evolved to support the Israeli iPhone users. There are well over 10,000 “unlocked” iPhone units in Israel and many Israeli fans have already created web sites and online groups in order to share information about the device, help fellow users and localize it. As written in a recently published CNN article: “Unlocked and pricey, iPhone is coveted in Israel”.
Therefore, we would highly appreciate your effort to release the iPhone in Israel as soon as possible. We are enthusiastically looking forward for the official release of this great device in our country!
The response from Apple headquarters? Actually, from Steve Jobs himself?
“The iPhone currently does not support right to left text. Don’t you think this will severely limit its success in Israel?”
Click here for a screenshot of the email.
Too bad Jobs doesn’t have his facts straight. Several of the countries where the new iPhone will be available are Arabic speaking nations. Including Qatar as well as our neighbors Jordan and Egypt. Last I checked their language is read right from left too.
Israelis are obsessed with their cellphones and gadgets, it would be a natural place to market the iPhone (allegedly there are already over 10,000 iPhone users in Israel) and frankly quite odd that we are being overlooked here…perhaps the other cellphone companies are flexing their collective muscles? I can’t think of any other reason. What are your thoughts? Why was Israel overlooked? Has Israel’s Apple distributor idigital made any statement about this?
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