Rumour: Apple to push iPhone sales through student communities

by Stevie Smith - Jun 13 2008, 10:18

According to a report published by technology watchers at AppleInsider, California-based computer and gadget specialist Apple Inc. is preparing to implement a market-boosting sales plan that would see its new 3G iPhone retailing through select university stores in the United States.

Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the Apple-centric Web site notes that Apple is seriously considering the possibility of giving the green light to campus-based stores and other resellers connected to the educational sector, which would thereby enable them to offer the iconic touch-screen smartphone to a significant tech-friendly demographic.

Should Apple move forward with a plan to utilise the student community to help widen the marketing effectiveness of its newly upgraded iPhone, it would build on the existing “iPhone University” initiative that was launched in 2007 across a select few of the country’s most renowned campuses.

Those establishments of higher learning covered by Apple’s technology-assisted education scheme include the likes of Harvard, Stanford and MIT. The scheme itself sees students equipped with iPhones able to wirelessly download study materials, receive homework reminders, respond to in-class quizzes and surveys, and even get campus directions.

The initiative also works alongside the blossoming “iPhone U” section of Apple’s iTunes Store, which enables students to freely download a selection of specific study-based lectures and seminars and also talks given by prominent speakers, all of which are made available to further boost educational benefit.

AppleInsider’s unnamed sources claim that any forthcoming finalisation of a university retail deal for the iPhone would likely see the diminutive device introduced into those campuses where Apple already holds “large and active accounts.” A definitive decision on the matter is expected to emerge by the end of summer.

The new second-generation 3G iPhone, which was formerly unveiled at this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, will hit international retail across iPhone-carrying territories on July 17.

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