But laced with the patriotic gushing over their newborn gadget - part digital recorder, part camcorder, part MP3 player - was a mantra calculated to disarm the inevitable charges that Emblaze suffered from an overdose of chutzpah.

"We are in no way so presumptuous to think that we can immediately become the next Nokia," said Eli Reifman, chief executive of the company, which is based in this Tel Aviv suburb. "We are very far behind that. We have to start and this is a good way to start."

Instead of directly taking on leaders like Nokia, Motorola and the Samsung Corporation, Emblaze hopes to carve a tiny sliver of the handset market for itself by offering mobile operators a custom-developed phone to sell under their own label. (full story)