... or at least imports thereof from America. Haaretz Anyone want to explain this for technological neophytes such as I? I was under the impression that WiFi is an IEEE standard and that as such products adhering to that standard would be interoperable regardless of their region of origin?
The same thing happened in Israel with the iPhone launch; iPhones just became available there this past December. But as I understand it, the iPad hasn't been passed through the European certification process yet and their rules on WiFi devices are slightly different from FCC rules (and Israel appears to conform to the European rules). So until it's officially passed, they're banning it from import. It isn't that unreasonable, they're just being a bit heavy handed. In any case, when the iPad launches internationally next month (currently it's only for sale in the US) the issue will most likely be cleared up.
The article seems to imply that the issue is a technical one, not merely that the device hasn't yet been certified by the relevant European agencies. Of course it's always a mistake to place too much emphasis upon exact wording in non-specialist media... Such appalling cynicism!
This looks promising. Wikipedia on IEEE 802.11 It sounds like Israel enforces EU channel allocation standards more stringently than EU members do.
The ban has since been lifted. Don't know how those who have already had iPads confiscated would go about getting them back, though.
One would assume (or rather hope) there would have been paperwork associated with each of the specific confiscations and thusly have the identity of the owner and contact details, rather than an official going *yoink* 'Mine now!' when taking it off them.