Israel Repeals iPad Ban 180
SillySilly writes "The ban has been lifted: The Communications Ministry announced Saturday evening that starting Sunday it will allow Apple's iPad tablet computer into the country, following two weeks of confiscations and confusion."
Ban lifted, but limited to one per person. (Score:4, Informative)
At least they finally got it tested so it proved what it said. Isralies are picky to a fault.
But you can't ship 'em in yet. Limit's only one per person, so no gifting yet.
Supply problems... (Score:2, Informative)
Apple doesn't have enough supply of the iPad to do a worldwide release because they're delaying American shipments and imposing purchasing limits on large buyers. As a result, they didn't do international standards testing because they aren't selling it everywhere yet. It looks like Israel was the only nation to make a big no-importing stink over the uncertified status... so really this Apple cleaning up a problem caused by excessive demand, something they should be used to by now.
Re:What, why? (Score:2, Informative)
The order came from Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon, who apparently hadn?t been appraised of the initial decision to ban the devices due to their wireless specifications.
Make sense now?
Re:What, why? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ban lifted, but limited to one per person. (Score:5, Informative)
Israel has been doing this "War on Terror"(TM) stuff for many years... and as a result some things that we consider harmless are "security threats" until they're proven otherwise. Anything that could emit a wireless signal could trigger something harmful, so there has to be limits on those things.
Didn't necessarily violate, untested (Score:5, Informative)
If the device violates their wireless standards then why the hell should they allow it to operate in their country?
It shouldn't. But it doesn't.
The whole issue was that it was untested. That was it. As with any bureaucracy, rules must be obeyed even if in the end the result is the same.
Re:What, why? (Score:5, Informative)
Everything that intentionally emits a wireless signal has to have a prototype sent to the FCC here in the USA. We typically learn of new Apple iPhone/iPad products just before they're submitted to the FCC because once they hit the FCC they'd become public record at that point anyway.
Israel's complaint was mostly due to a lack of a seal of approval that the iPad now has. Nothing wrong with the device, just need to show one to the approved lab and pay the fee.
Re:What, why? (Score:3, Informative)
You mean Chinese made. The only thing exported from stateside these days are Britney Spears videos.
Re:Well you know what they're like (Score:1, Informative)
(Score:0, Offtopic)
Damn moderator.. I was so hoping I wouldn't have to ruin the joke [youtube.com]
Re:I swear (Score:5, Informative)
So anyone with an iPad would be very interested to know that Israel was stealing these computers at the borders.
FWIW, the iPads were not being stolen. The rightful owners could reclaim their property when they exited the country.
Re:What, why? (Score:5, Informative)
We typically learn of new Apple iPhone/iPad products just before they're submitted to the FCC because once they hit the FCC they'd become public record at that point anyway.
Actually the FCC will handle equipment testing and acceptance confidentially. The process takes quite some time (months) so confidential testing and processing helps prevent early disclosure of products. Also, many devices like the iPad do not require new certifications because they will simply integrate a pre-existing radio module that has already been though the process.
Re:For chrissakes... (Score:2, Informative)
Add to that the usually ignored fact that it was Israeli land that was occupied by Jordan and Egypt for 19 years before the Jordanian and Egyptian occupation was lifted.
Funny how during those 19 years of Jordanian occupation of the West Bank and Egyptian occupation of Gaza that nobody ever suggested a Palestinian state in those occupied territories. And that during those 19 years (and the 40 years since then) the 400,000 or so refugees from the 1948 war were kept blocked up in the "camps" and not allowed to disperse among their Muslim brethren, nor those from the West Bank area and Gaza allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank and Gaza, as all other refugees from all other wars all over the world do.
Re:Ban lifted, but limited to one per person. (Score:5, Informative)
As an Israeli I assure you, the "national security" reasons given by the ministry were nothing but poor excuses after the fact. Just like in america (or even more so) words of "security" are just the joker cards used by the government to confuse and distract. I also don't buy the conspiracy theories about corruption related to this case.
The story, as I understand it, is a very simple story about a bureaucracy making a wrong decision, finding excuses to that decision and finally backs down after what it perceived as a sensible damages control strategy.
The order of events ( in my opinion ):
1) The custom personnel didn't know how to handle imports of the iPad.
2) They contacted the office of ministry of communications.
3) The incompetent office tried to obtain official details and specs of the device, failed to do so and decided to default to banning the device until further notice. When ignorant, Israeli bureaucracy always defaults to the lazy option and takes the "better safe than sorry" stance, whatever the cost is to the individual.
4) Headlines rightfully ridiculing the decision popped up in Israeli online news sites, followed by a world wide criticism and ridiculing.
5) The office understood the mistake but tried any tactic not to loose face. Then all the stupid excuses came out: the babble about national security, about the office protecting the convenience of the local populace, the lack of compliance from iDigital (apple products importer in Israel) and more excuses. Nothing more than "security", "what about the children" and "look a chubaka!" to confuse and distract.
6) The office waits awhile for everything to settle down and lifts the ban with remarks about "sophisticated lab testing" etc. Sounds very scientific. Very hi-tec. I'm glad we have such sophisticated people in our government.
Re:What, why? (Score:5, Informative)
once they hit the FCC they'd become public record at that point anyway.
You can actually pay extra to the FCC to have them keep it a secret until the product is released. Apple doesn't trust the FCC to be able to keep a secret, so they do announce the products before sending them to the FCC. And frankly they don't trust the FCC for a good reason: the FCC really can't keep a secret, someone will get a secret picture of it or something.
Why the iPad? iDigital is the Israeli distributor (Score:5, Informative)
I think the bigger question is how 1,000's of other foreign products go in without any problems. Why was the iPad singled out? If I take my new HTC phone fresh from Taiwan and unlicensed in Israel, they are not going to seize it.
Time offers an explanation:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1983236,00.html [time.com]
"It is worth noting," Etengoff wrote, "that Apple's Israeli distributor, iDigital, is run by Chemi Peres, the hyper-entrepreneurial son of Israeli President Shimon Peres.
"Clearly, iDigital wants its lucrative cut of every iPad brought into the country — which it will undoubtedly receive when a modified European version of the iPad is approved for import over the next two or three months.
Re:And the White House comments on Isreal ... (Score:3, Informative)
er...Jew is a race. "Real" Jews can in fact be identified by DNA.
There's DNA you may identify was "jew", but things are not that simple.
The moment you make such connection a rule, you'll end up with things like jew families who are no longer jews and weird things like christian jews.
This whole debate of who is a jew is a mess. If you want to know more, you may start here [wikipedia.org] and here [wikipedia.org].
Re:What, why? (Score:3, Informative)
Also, many devices like the iPad do not require new certifications because they will simply integrate a pre-existing radio module that has already been though the process.
While this can happen, depending on the enclosure of the device the FCC can still elect for full testing. You still need to submit, and they can approve purely on similarity, but all the little metal bits can cause a compliant radio to become non-compliant. Think of a parabolic reflector, and that's a simple way to make a compliant device non-compliant.
I'm pretty sure that with Apple's R&D budget and their limited space, the iPad probably didn't use an off-the-shelf radio module.