Briefly, the official Grand Opening of the Abu Dhabi MacStore Apple Center was held today and EmiratesMac has posted some photographs from the day.
See the photos here.
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Apple Centre Mac Store opens in Abu Dhabi Mall (w/ link to photos) – April 18, 2006
Did anyone show up?
LOL!! looks like about 10 people showed up…
bwaahaa, check that arab faux-blonde chick. Esp. the group photo where she is making a phonecall. She’s like the arab version of Patsy from AbFab!
how hot is the chick 3rd from left?!
aye carumba!
OH Finally goofballs will know what an apple is. GR8
WTF! Why even report this? From what I understand anything sold there can’t have any part made or invented or anything to do with Israel and Apple has to make sure the computers have nothing to do with Israel or Jews if sold over there. WTF!
zach + gj –
here’s me thinking mac users were supposed to be more intelligent and sophisticated,
maybe you are both VERY recent switchers.
Zach,
Can you site a source for that inflammatory assertion?
UH, If you think the faux blond chick is hot you are desparate. LOL nobody is even there.
The Tiger Lady works that the Apple Store?
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/boytoc.html
My Mac mini came with a sticker that said “Designed by Jews in Israel.”
What are the rights of people over there anyway, if any?
Interesting how all the signage says “Mac Store”, not “Apple Store”.
From the turnout, it looks like people either don’t much care for Macs in Abu Dhabi, or can’t afford them.
My prediction: This will be the first ever Apple Store to close its doors.
Hey, How far is this place from Steve Jobs’ birth father’s homeland of Jordan? Curious….
Looks pretty far….never mind last post.
Zach, nice link to the web site, but can you be more specific in where is states:
” anything sold there can’t have any part made or invented or anything to do with Israel and Apple has to make sure the computers have nothing to do with Israel or Jews if sold over there.”
I know there very anti-semetic anti Israel edicts in that region, but where is that specific edict related to Abu Dhabi. I’m not saying it’s not. I would like to see it myself and I don’t want to wade through that website.
btw, i couldnt care less for those rants bordering on the racist, but for those mac fans really interested in more trivia, here’s one to chew on
Since you dont have the phonetic equivalent of “P” in Arabic. So what it reads in Arabic is actually Abal Center (its the closest transliteration).
Is this an official Apple Store? It didn’t seem to be clear.
Zach,
First, as I understand it, it’s a government boycott. In other words, government controlled entities (such as ports and such) cannot purchase devices with parts made or designed in Israel. It does not extend to individuals.
To draw a vague analogy, the US Government will not purchase wheeled chairs unless they have five spokes because some government study said they were more stable.
UAE is pretty secular–there are two court systems, one secular and one Shi’a. So if you steal something, you don’t get your hands cut off. Of course, I notice that the women in the picture don’t necessarily look Arab (except, perhaps, the faux blonde).
Avva dabble on your Apple
Anti-Israel does not necessarily mean anti-Jew or anti-Semetic. You can be against Israel’s foreign policy and disgusted by its treatment of the Palestinians without hating Jews. Just like hating the Bush administration and its policies doesn’t mean you hate all Americans.
Download a really cool documentary called Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land (you can find it on bittorrent sites and Limewire) if you’re interested in learning about Israel’s foreign policy and how it’s covered in the U.S. media.
Zach, your link to the page talking about boycotts of Israeli goods does not really answer the question. I went through the entire web site you linked to. As you probably know, Abu Dhabi is part of the UAE. The only place they are specifically cited in all of those pages was on the table that talks about what boycotts each country followed. It didn’t give any details, so it wasn’t much use.
Further, most of these pages talk about boycotts that are now more or less expired. Many ended in 1994.
Finally, nothing on these pages seem to say anything about the details of the boycotts, so unless you have some specifics from somewhere else besides that web site, your link does not justify your statements.
FYI:
Abu Dhabi, like the rest of the United Arab Emirates, has more temporary workers from other countries living there than citizens. By and large, the vast bulk of people working in retail (as in almost every industry) in the Emirates are not in fact citizens of the country, but come from somewhere else — primarily other Gulf state, Iran, India/Pakistan/Balgladesh and the Philippines. Thus the Apple store (like the Body Shop, the Ikea the Marks and Specers and the Starbucks) will have a multicultural and multilingual staff.
There is an general boycott of Israeli products throughout the Emirates. Very occassionally an Israeli product will slip through Customs, and there is typically an outcry, resulting in the product being pulled from the shelves quickly.
While a non-parliamentary absolute monarchy, the Emirates nonetheless is progressive and tolerant, given that the vast majority of its working population comes from a large number of divergent cultural, national and religious backgrounds. In comparison with neighbouring Saudi Arabia, there are very few restrictions on dress, behaviour.
The store is not an official Apple-owned retail store, but rather a licensed reseller which is allowed to use the look and feel of an Apple Store by contractual agreement.
P.S.
For the current status of the U.A.E. boycott, check here:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS22424.pdf
The U.S. is pressing for the U.A.E. to give up the boycott as a condition of the U.A.E. entering into a free trade agreement with the U.S.