Best of the web: 17 April

Best of the web: 17 April

Israel Bans iPads; Twitter to sell advertising; Turkey's economy is bustling.

April 17, 2010 11:13 by kippreport

Israel Bans iPads

Israeli Communications Ministry has banned the import of iPads. Additionally, travelers who take their iPads to Israel can expect to have them confiscated at the airport.

Henry Blodget, CEO and Editor in Chief of the Business Insider, was an early victim.

Apparently, Mr. Blodget was told, “some crazy story about how American iPads work on a different WiFi network standard and might therefore damage Israel’s domestic network,” he writes.

Really? In any case, don’t take your iPad to Israel, just be on the safe side.

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Twitter decides to sell advertising

Twitter this week announced a much-anticipated advertising campaign it hopes will spell revenue for the company – now in a dead heat with rival Facebook, The Economist reported this week.

“The company has long concentrated on scooping up users for its service, and money from venture capitalists—its latest funding round valued it at $1 billion—rather than on finding a way to make profits from its burgeoning audience. Now it needs to show that its whopping valuation is justified while protecting the independent network that has already produced most of the 100,000 Twitter-related applications, or apps, currently available,” The Economist said.

Social marketers are divided about how to best exploit the financial potential of the Twitter environment, arguing that the nature of its service makes it tricky to “monetise.” “Could this be a massive money-spinner?” The Economist asks.

Looks like the Twitter people are optimistically hedging their bets, The Economist concludes, reportedly signing deals with search engines like Google and Bing to incorporate tweets into their searches.

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Turkey’s economy is bustling

On the heels of a turbulent financial year in 2009, Turkey’s economy is bustling again, analysts contend, labeling it a “Germany in the making” with a healthy dose of “raucous politics,” according to a report in Business Week.

Despite the country’s political challenges, investors are hot on Turkish equities. Domestics and foreigners are reportedly snapping up Turkish stocks and bonds in record amounts, with Istanbul’s Stock Exchange index recording an all-time high in April that capped a “52-week run that has seen stocks double in value,” the article contends.

“Turkey is going to pick itself up again after a political crisis and show growth,” said Murat Koprulu. He is the Turkish-born chairman of Multilateral Funding International in New York. Koprulu insists that Turkey’s economy has solid foundations in manufacturing, as well as a broad middle class, according to Business Week.