How Israel Can Get The iPhone (Work In Progress)

(Image from Bring the iPhone to Israel Facebook group)



Despite the fact that Apple is launching the iPhone in countries like Egypt and Jordan, the holy land has been left out completely, which is unusual seeing how tech savvy Israelis are.



Regardless at who is at fault for why the Jewish state was missed (whether its Apple's fault, or the phone carriers), Israelis--both geeks and normal people non-geeks--need to ban together and talk to Apple (perhaps a second email to Steve Jobs will do) as well as two of the major phone carriers--preferably Cellcom and Orange Israel (note: I'll explain why below).



Also talking to i-Digital (the current Israeli Apple distributor) would be good as well, as Apple would probably want someone representing their brand outside of the telecom industry.

1. First off, Israeli users need to be willing to put their shekels where their mouth is--that is sign a new petition with users saying they are reserving 669 ILS (which is about $199 USD) in order to purchase the iPhone.
   
   
   
   Since most companies are always looking for ways to make an extra profit, a petition like this would be sure to grab their attention (if not media headlines) and would "miraculously" spark negotiations with Apple.
   
   
   
   Of course, in order to get this to work, you need a lot of people signing up and committing to the iPhone purchase (perhaps at least 10,000) if Apple is willing to sell it in Israel.
   
   


2. Second, contacting the local Israeli mobile phone companies would help out as well. My advice would be contacting Orange Israel and Cellcom. But why these two?
   
   
   
   Orange is already a major carrior of the 3G iPhone, and is already bringing the iPhone to a host of countries including Egypt and Jordan. Israeli's should politely ask the company to consider including Israel to their list as well (note: and do not forget to mention the petition of the many Israeli mobile users ready to purchase the iPhone if available).
   
   
   
   Orange can be contacted on their main page over here (Orange Israel can be reached over here) or users can simply email the company over at business.international [at] orange.ftgroup.com.
   
   
   
   Cellcom would be a decent alternative as well, mainly because they could actually help bring Hebrew to the iPhone (perhaps by hiring this geek).
   
   


3. Third, Israeli's should announce that they are willing to accept the iPhone in its current glory in English. Say what?
   
   
   
   While having the iPhone in Hebrew would be nice (without jailbreaking it), reality is that Apple may be nervous about releasing a product without it being completely debugged 100% (one of the differences between it and Microsoft).
   
   
   
   By accepting it in English, Israeli's could prove to Apple how strong the iPhone is in the holy land, which could inspire the company to develop a version later on in Hebrew (to the joy of millions everywhere).
   
   
   
   After all, Apple seems to be releasing the iPhone in English to both Egypt and Jordan (note: I could be wrong about this, so correct me if this is not the case), so Israeli's should accept something similar within their own country.

While this will not bring the iPhone to Israel overnight, hopefully these three steps will at least help the Israelis acquire one before the end of the year is out.



If anybody has any other suggestions, ideas, criticisms or whatever, feel free to leave your opinions in the comment section below.

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