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Religious Islamic mobile phone from Ilkome |
axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
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From: Londinium
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Lebanese customers will soon be able to view what is, quite possibly, the biggest Islamic-related product since the prayer beads. For the past two years, a Dubai-based firm has been developing a cellular telephone the promises to "connect you to your beliefs wherever you are."
This high tech flip phone does more than point devout users in the direction of Mecca from 5,000 cities worldwide. It also stores the entire Koran and is equipped with a Yamaha sound system that can be programmed to play the Islamic call to prayer, or Azan, up to five times per day.
Manufactured in Korea, the i800 is Ilkone's first product. Ilkone, Arabic for "'the universe', is a majority-Arab owned company that stakes claim to being the first regional player to enter the Middle East's rapidly growing mobile market and with releases soon planned in Malaysia, Turkey, and Indonesia, they have high hopes for capturing a substantial share of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
A two inch, 65,000 color screen allows Muslim users to clearly view the entire text of the Koran, with English meaning translations, a search engine, games, high resolution photos, and text messages. The dual screen also offers an Islamic Hijra calendar and 12 GPRS technology - the latest in mobile internet connectivity.
"It's a very practical way of performing your Islamic duties," says Houssam Khatib, the general manager of local Ilkone distributor Office Technologies, "The Islamic applications make the phone unique." Khatib says he expects the i800 to capture 4 percent of the local market, not very much compared to Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where Ilkone' s share could even dominate the market.
So why release it first in Beirut? Khatib says it will be an easy testing ground since distribution in the Saudi market will be more complex and possibly involve several agents.
Ilkone is not limited to only Islamic phones. They expect to become a global mobile player by releasing three additional and unrelated models by the end of 2004. The i800, which may lack a few features of the latest mobile phones, it is prospected to do very well in the conservative states like Saudi Arabia, where camera phones are banned.
Al Azhar, one of the world's leading centers for Islamic scholarship, reviewed and has certified this phone. Religious claims aside, consumer spending power could be the biggest factor in this phone, and this company's, success. The i800 will be selling locally for $496 USD.
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Source:
http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Ar[....]?ArticleID=149747&ChannelId=16
[ This Message was edited by: axxxr on 2004-04-13 16:28 ]
[ This Message was edited by: axxxr on 2004-06-25 05:06 ] |
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PeterKay
Joined: Jul 08, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: The Ummah
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That is definately good news, being the fastest growing religion in the world them fones should sell fast.
Any more info? any links? |
BobaFett
Joined: Jan 06, 2004
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From: Kamino (wish it would be Lund)
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religion online. impressive. do interested how the arabian world will react on it.
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PeterKay
Joined: Jul 08, 2003
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From: The Ummah
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I am sure that they will be most appreciative.
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axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
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From: Londinium
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I Dont have much more info on this revolutionary new product as of yet!..But as always will keep u updated as more details r released!
My opinion about this phone is that it will very popular amongst practising muslims around the world.A lot of muslims find it difficult to know the exact direction of mecca when they are in different countries and knowing when the prayer time is according to time zones.This product will make life a lot lot easier.
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[addsig] |
soichiro
Joined: Jan 12, 2004
Posts: 258
From: Cucumberland
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very impressive. brilliant! 
Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night. |
joebmc
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Kent
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_________________
 T68m(i)-->T610
[ This Message was edited by: joebmc on 2004-04-13 17:13 ] |
axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Londinium
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Thats not very funny joebmc!..have some respect for other ppl's religion!
[addsig] |
joebmc
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
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From: Kent
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Sorry 
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PeterKay
Joined: Jul 08, 2003
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From: The Ummah
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Yeh! Thats not funny @joebmc.
Keep your opinions to yourself m8.
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mipgo
Joined: Mar 29, 2003
Posts: 55
From: Vienna, Austria
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cool
now we still need the catholic version of that phone
i never remember our holidays LOL
cheers |
bart
Joined: Feb 03, 2002
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From: Flanders
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i think chance of this thing to work is very low. most arabic country's only sell nokia phones, and the people there love them, and there are enough sits where they can find all there religion needs.
With Ericsson and Nokia gone: we must keep their spirits alive and buy JOLLA or YOTA |
iyiinsan
Joined: Oct 20, 2002
Posts: 366
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It won't sell in Turkey for 2 reasons;
1) Turkey is a Nokia-lover country. When you go out, you see 4 people out of 5 have a Nokia.
2) Some "I-Don't-know-nothin'-about-religion-but-I-make-up-things-just-to-get-some-attention" people (boy, that was long!) said a lot of things about the Digital Kuran (Or Quran, Qoran; whatever it written in English) and they were beleived by the unenlightened, extreme-beleivers (You know, the idiots who want Ottoman Empire back and stuff). I mean, it reads the Kuran aloud in Arabic or Turkish, and it writes the translations on its screen in French, English or German; that's not bad. Thanks God we have "Ministry of Religion" which tells what is wrongdoing and which is not. They've corrected it but the dumb*ss'es I wrote about above will find a reason for this phone either. |
axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Londinium
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iyiinsan just because u belong to a nation who is a so called muslim country anyway!..if u think only exremists have a need for this kind of technology then u really do have a lot to learn about Islam!
This kind of phone will and can make life a lot easier who observe the religious prayer 5 times a day!.
[addsig] |
Vlammetje
Joined: Mar 01, 2003
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From: Den Haag
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well..... I think it may do very well. A high end phone that shows a clear religious point... may indeed score high. I don't really see where bart gets his wisdom that all practising muslims are nokia lovers (or something along those lines) but knowing many many muslims away from home that have to constantly adept their time of prayer and especially during ramadan to keep track of the correct times of fasting... something like this could prove to be a 'godsend' (no pun intended) for those ppl.
besides.... more and more ppl turn to their religion again in today chaotic world (think passion of the christ and the ridiculous USA sales of muscled and tattood 'superhero jesus' dolls) and any company that catches the spirit of the times enough to market on them is bound to get a success.
Besides... I already know a few ppl who would want this little gadget
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Posted: 2004-04-13 17:09
