Cellcom, Partner (Orange brand) and Pelephone, will join efforts and resources in order to launch one single iPhone capaign for all Israeli operators bringing the iPhone.
Each operator has obliged to contribute 1.5 million ILS in order to promote iPhone sales together with the exact same campaign. Yes you are reading correctly- the “fierce” competition will be forgotten through the campaign in order to creat a win-win situation for operators.
Actually this initiative kind of makes sense, because Apple doesn’t allow any of the operators to change the campaign creative- with the same (boring, techy) ads in every country regardless of culture, religion and weather …
Apple is expected to contact the Commissioner of regulation Ronit Kann to ensure that the activity is conducted in accordance with the regulation – which according to Apple, could delay the launch…
The mobile blog of Israel is speculating that Apple may use this as an excuse to delay the launch and maybe just didn’t manufature enough iPhones to fulfil the demand … and not just in Israel.. (then again just a speculation).
Meanwhile The Mobile Blog of Israel is considering to buy a little Android baby for itself, but waiting for a true Hero..
Partner Orange Sale: Israeli Samsung distributor, Scailex Corp. has made a binding offer to buy a majority stake in local mobile network operator, Partner. The 51% stake is currently owned by Hutchison Telecommunications who have previously said they are looking to sell the company.
Though Ben-Dov’s agreement is to buy 51% of Partner, that doesn’t mean he has to keep all the shares. He’s selling a 5% stake to Bank Leumi (irrespective of money he’s borrowing from Leumi) for NIS 515 million, and may sell more shares to Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot in order to fund his purchase.
Partner Orange Ramadan BTL promotion: Every year mobile operators launch a promotion for the muslim sector in Israel to increase their loyalty and encourage usage. The promotions are usually kept bellow the line in order to appeal only to this specific sector.
This year- Orange (Partner) was giving away 2000 minutes for calls at night (between 21:30-05:30) for muslims during Ramadan fast which lasts a month. All customers had to do was to send a text message with the word Ramadan to the number 999 and get the reward.
But this things did’nt go as planned and the Ramadan offer only dedicated to muslim customers was exposed on Ynet- the biggest Israeli news portal. As a result, that many customers who are not muslims started to send texts to recieve the 2000 reward, in other words- abusing the promotion.
The final result was- leading to the promotion cancelation within two days after launch since Orange couldn’t handle the demand.
It’s been bothering me for a while that my mobile is turning itself off after 3 min of every call I make, certainly made my bills thinner, but yet quite a drag. I have been carrying the same Sony Ericsson for a year or so and was planning to upgrade to the new iPhone or HTC Magic Android (Soon coming from Pelephone) – and left the decision to when they will arrive to Israel so I can compare and make a wiser resolution.
So, you may understand why I didn’t want to spend any money on repairing a mobile that I intend to replace soon…
So.. I have been postponing it for some time, but on last Thursday I decided- no more 3 min calls (!) and went to repair my mobile at an Orange point of service near my work.
Upon entering I took a number and waited for about 5 minutes to get service. When my number came up I approached a desk and was ready to get upset… (Like any good Israeli)
After I Explained to the representative at the desk the problem and mentioned why I don’t intend to spend a lot of money on the repair she surprisingly gave me a 50% discount with no arguments. I was pleased. Then, she backed up all my numbers, gave me a simple Nokia handset to use while mine is being repaired, and told me that it would take 2 business days.
She then offered me to send the handset to my house with a discounted delivery (20ILS instead 44 ILS) or to pick it up from any point of sale or customer care center in my area. I chose to pick it up from the same place.
When I was about to leave, she gave me extra 120ILS to spend on content downloads from the Orange portal, that was a treat that left me smiling, though she mentioned to cancel it after I am done or I’ll be charged for a regular content package on the next month. I left with a big smile.
Orange have recently changed the way they deliver their repair service as well as the whole processes inside their points of service and sale around Israel.
I picked up the brochure explaining the new repair process to customers so I will translate it for you native english speakers:
1. Starting now you can give away your handset for repair in one of 70 Orange points spread in malls and centers around the country.
2. The handset will be sent to a proffesional unique lab, and will go through a comrehensive repair and a meticulous quality check.
3. Meanwhile you will get an alternative handset which will allow you to stay connected
4. You will bw able to pick up your phone from any Orange point after 2 business days or to receive it with a delivery (available for a fee).
A busy week for all mobile operators in Israel, a lot of bits and bytes to update you with.
Pelephone has started this month announcing the iPhone on its network. Its competitors Partner Orange and Cellcom have both declared they will also bring the iPhone to the holy land. (Cellcom took a while to decide but finnaly tumbled under the iPhone pressure) So soon Israel will be probably the only country in the world to offer iPhone from all operators… (well…except Mirs).
But Pelephone didn’t give up and is planing to bring the HTC Magic to Israel too. The Android based phone is likely to attract tech freeks (like me) who crave to have a linux based phone with all the capabilities of a smartphone and a QWERTY keyboard.
And another thing about Pelephone… It seem this company just keep working those engines…. they are also rumored to bring the Palm Pre to Israel to make Alia… “The Mobile Blog” promises to update on the matter.
And in a different Activity (again) Pelephone (good job guys!) is also launching this summer a music festival in Tel-Aviv that branded on the name of the new service launched recently: Musix. The festival will take place on the 19-20 of August, bringing young fans the singer “Lady Gaga”, Simple plan, kaiser chief and some local artists such as: Aviv Gefen, Monica Sex etc.
Pelephone customers will be able to purchase tickets in a lowered price: 199 ILS instead of 319 ILS for the whole festival. Aday pass will cost 149 ILS instead of 229 ILS.
Orange has recently launched two initiatives to ease their customers:
The first is My Orange, a new page on its WAP portal will allow cutomers to check thair bills, and modify their subscription directly from their mobile.
The second service is a callback servie allowing customers calling the customer care center on peek times to hang up the phone and hold their position on the line. The customer will recieve a call back when his turn arrives.
Israel’s Knesset, or Parliament is debating plans to permit the launch of MVNOs in the country. The Economic Arrangements Bill, being debated by the Knesset Economics Committee, accompanys the state budget and includes a clause to permit MVNOs in the country. The Ministry of Communications initially proposed plans for MVNOs earlier this year. The incumbent operators have until this week to lodge their opinions on the new legislation, and the Knesset is expected to vote on the bill around the middle of next month. If passed, then MVNOs could start applying for licenses within a couple of months. The legislation gives the network operators up to six months to come to a commercial agreement with any licensed MVNO – after which the government would step in to impose an agreement. The country has been debating the entry of MVNOs since at least 2007, when a report from National Economic Research Associates, commissioned by the regulator came down in favour of their services. The network operators in turn responded with their own study, carried out by LECG, which came to the opposite conclusion.
Orange has announced a partnership with ‘Bug‘, a chain of 50 computer stores across Israel. The partnership will allow Orange (Partner) to operate sales counters iwithin the stores in order to promote the sales of Orange’s (Partner) broadband/ mobile broadband, netbooks, landlines and additional products. The strategic partnership comes a few months after Partner has waived on operating its points of sales in ‘Superpharm’ durgstore chain, who has been in a long partnership with Orange which was established almost from Orange’s first day in Israel.
Pelephone has already replaced Orange in operating ’Superpharm’s points of sale and it seems that Orange needed to change location in order to change customers preception of it services range. In order to communicate to customers that the service range includes a strong link to internet thease day it was important to sell it alongside with computers. This step further emphsizes that Orange is a quad-player.
Cellcom Partners with ‘Egged’
Cellcom has partnered with ‘Egged‘ transportation (bus company) and ‘Transpot’, in a project that will see that bus passengers will have the ability to track the driving path and know the approximate estimation of arriving to their final destination.
The information will be displayed to passengers on two screens: one near the entry door and the driver, and the other near the exit door.
Well, this sounds kind of cool! The mobile blog of Israel can’t wait to check that out..
After a very long wait, Pelephone and Partner announced today that they will bring the iPhone to their customers starting in October. Cellcom not expected to market the device.
The launch takes place late in relation to the rest to other countries. Over the years, the device has been brought independently by many people and there are currently an approximate number of 80 thousand iPhones in Israel.
***Update***
According to to the financial newspaper “Calcalist” the iPhone will be sold in Israel for a subsidized price, estimated at 199$, similarly to its subsidized price in other countries.
That is due to both operator’s agreement conditions with Apple, forcing them to rise subsidies to 200 million ILS per year. According to Calcalist Orange’s (Partner Israel) expense on subsidies was 87,000 ILS on 2008 (Pelephone does not disclose those details).
Cellcom who has decided not to market the iPhone at this point continues to lower its subsidies on devices. A smart move on one hand, but on the other hand not as smart if Cellcom won’t start to heavily subsidize at least on real premium device to allow them to push content and app to customers.
The mobile blog of Israel is proud and happy to hear that the iPhone is finally coming to Israel at a reasonable price and congratulates Pelephone and Orange for their wise decision to give the iPhone “Alia”.
For the last two weeks, people roaming the streets could have seen the wide spread of outdoor ads promoting Pelephone’s new “High Speed GSM” network.
The ad features some sort of creature painting a sign announcing the new “high speed” network, an announcement that refers to the new HSPA network launched by Pelephone a month ago, the most advanced network in the world. the only HSPA network in Israel so far.Along came the TV ad today available in this post for all of you viewers.
Another interesting activity Pelephone has carried out is establishing a temporary pop-up concept store. The temporary store spreads on 1,200 meters showcasing the new HSPA network handsets allowing customers to explore enjoying a unique customer experience.
This launch is a big one, especially for Pelephone. Pelephone was established in 1986 as the first mobile operator in Israel, but ever since then it was known as the last one to arrive to all the other parties… A significant factor which contributed to that notion was Pelephone’s persistent hold on its CDMA network.
At last Pelephone has a brilliant chance to get rid of the “last one in” syndrome it has been suffering from since Cellcom joined Orange and launched it GSM network a few years ago.
But… before I let you go back to your affairs, its time for some criticism- The outdoor ads? not so attractive at all. No sense of innovation in the outdoor campaign unfortunately, and I also really don’t like the new HSPA network logo that is so conservative and boring..
The TV ad is much nicer and communicates the innovation though I don’t really get whats that thing about the wedding… and what’s the message (I mean except from a new world).
Actually, the biggest problem Pelephone has with the key promotional message is that they actually have the same network as their competitors- so they can’t claim for any unique sales proposition.
So CHEERS to Pelephone and good luck with the new network!
Partner Israel (Orange brand) is finally moving from being a mobile phone operator to a full telecoms company with the launch of Internet and land-line telephony services.
After the ”Orange Time” launch a week ago offering content on-line, Partner is starting today to offer land-line calling through Voice over Broadband (VoB) while also becoming an Internet service provider (ISP).
Partner is the first mobile company joining the multi-play circle, shaking up telcom market which up until now consisted of three ISP’s and three mobile operators dominating the map.
Partner’s brand strategy has always based itself on driving innovation and reflecting simplicity to customers. In accordance, at an interview for “Globes“, Israeli business magazine, Alon Berman VP internet and landline telephony services said: “Our strategy is not to raise a price competition… we are going for value offers”.
Some how I believe him it will work for Partner…
So all of you looking for the cheap alternative and a telecoms price war, don’t be looking forward to it too much, it might not happen after all.
A Few words about Orange Time
When it was first launched a week and a half ago I must admit I was a bit excited that Israel is finally going through a minor technological change attempting to change our limited concept of how communication and content feels and acts; But unfortunately after the first buzz it seems that the interface Partner chose to use is clumsy and the content on the site is not as updated. I would expect that if a company is to build an Internet content platform, it would invest more in valuable partnerships with content providers to bring the best and most updated content, instead of bringing things everyone can watch on regular TV….
Cellcom, Partner (Orange brand) and Pelephone, will join efforts and resources in order to launch one single iPhone capaign for all Israeli operators bringing the iPhone.
… 
Posted by stavik 
Partner Orange Sale: Israeli Samsung distributor, Scailex Corp. has made a binding offer to
Posted by stavik 
Posted by stavik 
Hi all,
Israel’s Knesset, or Parliament is debating plans to permit the launch of MVNOs in the country. The Economic Arrangements Bill, being debated by the Knesset Economics Committee, accompanys the state budget and includes a clause to permit MVNOs in the country. The Ministry of Communications initially proposed plans for MVNOs earlier this year. The incumbent operators have until this week to lodge their opinions on the new legislation, and the Knesset is expected to vote on the bill around the middle of next month. If passed, then MVNOs could start applying for licenses within a couple of months. The legislation gives the network operators up to six months to come to a commercial agreement with any licensed MVNO – after which the government would step in to impose an agreement. The country has been debating the entry of MVNOs since at least 2007, when a report from National Economic Research Associates, commissioned by the regulator came down in favour of their services. The network operators in turn responded with their own study, carried out by LECG, which came to the opposite conclusion.
After a very long wait, 
Partner VOB and ISP launch
