Israelis love gadgets on Google
Filed under: A New Reality, Blogging, Business, General, Israeliness, Pop Culture, Technology
Ever wonder what Israelis look for on Google? If you thought it was photos of Bar Refaeli, than you’re only partially right.
According to Google Israel Ltd., Israelis are actually nerds – mostly interested in gadgets. The business site Globes reported Google’s assessment of Israeli behavior on the search engine, which found that we’re particularly interested in the…. global cellular market???
The anticipated arrival of the new iPhone in Israel and the expansion of cellular companies into the music content field with Pelephone’s Musix, Cellcom Israel Ltd. Cellcom Media and Partner Communications Co. Ltd. Orange Time have resulted in a high rate of search for these services, Google Israel media and telecom sector head Nir Korchak told the site.
“Without doubt, the biggest new buzz over the last six months was the much talked-about iPhone. The late launch did not curb the appetite of Israelis for the coveted handset and may even have strengthened it. Searches for it were astronomical and broke all records for handset searches.”
Korchak added, “We can draw conclusions from this about Israeli consumers. He loves gadgets and is quick to take up new technologies, and this trend is expressed in the largest number of searches even before the launch. In other words, the enthusiastic Israeli public sees itself as part of the global village, and does not wait for the local launch to get information about something which is already being sold abroad.”
He said, “The Israeli public uses the search engine at every stage in the purchasing process: from initial interest through searches like ‘critique of Nokia N97 through market surveys, ‘iPhone price comparisons’ and onto the order stage ‘buy mobile phone.’”
According to the study, Israelis also use the search terms ‘loans’ and ‘financing’ alot, but not in ways that characterize an economic crisis – 55% of Israelis looked for a loan to finance a vacation, 25% to renovate their home and only 20% in order to repay debts.
And demonstrating that Israelis aren’t just business minded, there have been two peaks in the last six months for searches for swine flu in both English and Hebrew – the first was after the initial outbreak in Mexico and the second was after the outbreak of the virus in Israel.
Of course, what the survey didn’t indicate was that according my own informal polling, after searching for all of the above topics, 93% of Israeli males also typed in ‘Bar Refaeli photos.’
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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