Apparently, Apple is considering adding to its research facilities with a facility in Israel that is specialized in semi-conductors, most specifically flash storage.
According to this report by TechCrunch, Apple is willing to pay $400-500 million for an Israeli company named Anobit. That would be one of the rare times Apple invests in a company specialized in hardware, not software. Moreover, it looks like the decision to set up base in Israel was taken even before Apple entered in talks with Anobit.
But tech-stuff aside, what could this mean to Lebanon’s wide population of Apple product users, most notably the iPhone and iPad?
1) Well, expect it to become much, much harder for Apple to open any official store or anything of the sort in Lebanon.
2) I wouldn’t be surprised as well if somehow any subsequent iProducts, manufactured after the acquisition of Anobit, are either banned from entering the country or handled with extra, extra customs care to make their entry into the country either more expensive than it already is or almost impossible.
3) And last but not least… don’t be shocked when iPhone users are seen as potential spies. What is Israel putting into those flash storage compartments after all? They can’t simply be empty.
Ah well… what can you do?
i know this article is nearing a year old, but thought this might be worth posting:
http://www.zdnet.com/israel-inside-a-history-of-intels-r-and-d-in-israel-7000003122/
some of intel’s best products come out of there. i’d like to see lebanon ATTEMPT to boycott intel.
there’s a funny thing about us lebanese and boycotts… the truth is, suppose we took it to the extreme and boycotted everything that had (let’s say, for the sake of argument, significant) ties to israel. we’d be doomed. don’t mistake it, every single company will pick israel over lebanon, and i don’t blame them.
i can’t be bothered listing everything, but take out intel alone from under our feet and we’re screwed. what would you do? go to AMD, you could, but is it as good (it used to be better)? what about all the intel products currently in lebanon? part of a zionist plot?!
(btw, by extension, apple should be boycotted, it’s a massive customer to a company that’s one of the biggest employers in israel) – you of all people i’m sure are obviously not going to accept that.
chill out and accept that lebanse will only boycott things when it suits them. extend that and you’ll see that lebanese will only do anything if it suits them.