Apple to sell iPhone 3G on college campuses?
Ars Technica is reporting that Apple has considered plans to sell the iPhone 3G directly on US college campuses. Some campuses do already sell Apple products in their on-campus stores; however, this varies by university. If Apple marketed the phone directly to the students, this could definitely move Apple closer to the 18 million goal for 2008. Ars Technica also notes that a recent AppleInsider post speculates that a Best Buy deal could be in the works after the "old" iPhone's "grey-markets" put a hold on those plans. However, we know of one college that Apple probably won't be waiting in line to market their iPhone 3G to.
[via Ars Technica]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jash Sayani said 10:21AM on 6-13-2008
Yeah! Half the lot at College will definitely have an iPhone !
I love Steve's marketing strategy !!!
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Kalen said 10:53AM on 6-13-2008
Ummmm, wasn't the goal 10 million, not 18 million?
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Dave said 11:05AM on 6-13-2008
too bad it turned out that iphone was NEVER the problem at Duke and they issued an apology to Apple...
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/072007-cisco-iphone-duke-network-problem.html
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Ben said 11:11AM on 6-13-2008
Plus, if you had paid attention to the keynote, you would have noticed that when they were discussing the iPhone enterprise solution at colleges, Duke was prominently displayed at the 12:00 position on the screen
Johari said 11:10AM on 6-13-2008
Must've been part of their "iPhone" trademark agreement.
a ham sandwich said 11:25AM on 6-13-2008
come on University of Michigan!
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Rainer said 11:28AM on 6-13-2008
Would there be any benefit to buying an iPhone on campus, as opposed to walking off campus to an AT&T store to buy an iPhone?
This is the case at my school.
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MeatPop said 12:05PM on 6-13-2008
I dunno, but at my school most of the kids that live on campus rarely if ever leave since everything you need is there, and I guess if they really wanted the iPhone it would be convenient.
ZeroCorpse said 11:31AM on 6-13-2008
I'm just not impressed. The pricing for the iPhone stinks. Sure, the hardware price has been lowered, but they're gouging us for $70 a month in bills, for two years. I can't see ANY scenario where I would need $70 worth of phone service in an given month.
They've completely ignored the average consumer here. They're going straight for the crackberry addicts, day traders, businesspeople, and frequent talkers. The rest of us can only gaze in confusion and wish for an iPod/mobile phone combination that costs half as much to own over a two-year period.
I don't even spend $70 a month on my 6MB DSL + landline phone. Why would I spend that on a mobile?
Apple needs to work out something for the rest of its customers. I'd gladly pay an extra $300 for the iPhone if I could use any service plan I want, without hassle or guff from Apple.
Until then, it's plain old iPod + my el cheapo Virgin Mobile Cyclops ($50 for the phone plus $15 every 90 days).
Yeah. iPhone is cool, but it's clearly not for average consumers. It's for phone power-users.
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totoro said 12:10PM on 6-13-2008
I can't see ANY scenario where I would need $70 worth of phone service in an given month.
Well, there ya go. You don't need an iPhone, or any other smartphone. You aren't the target market.
And you keep throwing around the term "average consumer" around-but do you know what the "average consumer" spends monthly on their cell phone bill?
Yeah, around $70. Businesses, closer to $90.
ZeroCorpse said 12:37AM on 6-14-2008
Not true. A poll of my workplace yields an average of about $50 a month for the heavy talkers, and less for the not-so-heavy talkers.
I get that the iPhone isn't aimed at me. Fine. So why *doesn't* AT&T offer an iPod + phone plan that IS aimed at people who don't talk as much? Why does the AT&T plan have to be so high-end? Why isn't there a smaller plan for people who don't use the phone as much? Right now, the bare minimum is $70 a month, and that's certainly not a one-fee-fits-all solution.
I get by on very few minutes. I don't live on my phone, but I do need to have it with me. A plan that allows me to pay by-the-minute would be better for me. Give me 100 hours of data along with that, and you have a plan worth $20 + 18¢ per minute to someone like me.
Saying "it isn't for you" is pretty elitist, and I don't think that's the way Apple should go with this product. I want one. I could benefit by having the hardware itself, but the plan that goes with it is just unreasonable as their bottom-tier pricing.
It's not about being able to afford it: I can. It's about not NEEDING to spend that much per month, but still seeing a benefit in consolidating two gadgets I carry around all the time, anyway.
JL2001 said 11:45AM on 6-13-2008
What 18 million? The one that CLSA Emerging Markets analyst Jenny Lai imagined only an hour after the keynote, with little to no time for any "analysis?"
Please. Just stick with the facts. Apple's stated goal was 10 million. Stop spreading false numbers that will only set up ridiculous expectations and create stock volatility and general pandemonium.
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stevebert said 1:26PM on 6-13-2008
Another case of blog-generated-expectation-inflation. 18 million was NEVER a goal of Apple, but a number thrown out by some stock analyst who's probably a legend in his own mind. Apple's stated goal has, and continues to be, TEN million by the end of the year .
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kevinm said 4:04PM on 6-13-2008
If they're going to do this, then they should already know $70/ month is not going to work for most college students.
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Seth A said 4:45PM on 6-13-2008
Heck, my campus doesn't even have 3G, however, the entire campus is WiFi, so that really doesn't matter. The one thing I would like to see is the ability to get my school email on my iPhone, I hate those damned web interfaces.
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Trimalchio said 9:51PM on 6-13-2008
I would love to finally have iPhones at my campus store (I work at it). Unfortunately I cant imagine them actually getting it rolled out to many schools quickly, apple's business side is notoriously slow, and rarely has a clue whats going on within its own departments. I think that they're most likely going to get to some stores on time, but most campuses will probably have to wait a while before they can start doing iphones.
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T-Mobile said 8:38AM on 6-14-2008
http://www.imgbox.de/users/public/images/a24211d51.png
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airdrummingfool said 10:54AM on 6-14-2008
Will students who have college-provided exchange accounts (or personal, non-commercial ones) be charged for the full $45/mo "enterprise data plan"?
(crosses fingers...)
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